In Crimson It Began
by Silvanium
Summary: Friendship is a fragile thing but at the same time it can be the strongest force in existence, a relationship built on trust on understanding...oh how easy it can falter.
1. A vision of a probability

Agent 0 an inkling shrouded in mystery, who has not been seen in over a year

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" So apparently Gramps and Three are coming back today. " Callie said as she lazed about on the grass, Marie looked at her "Really? That's great I've missed them, that and we have a lot to tell them. " she said happy that their grandfather and Three will be back soon after being gone for the last few months.

Four looked at them nervously " Won't your grandfather be mad at you for recruiting me?" she asked. "Nah, Gramps is super cool he'd be fine with it. " Marie said reassuring Four.

"Hey do you hear that?" Callie said as she sat up " Hear what? " Marie asked.

" I dunno…I think it's coming from the house though" she responded " Oh maybe Three and the Cap'n are back." Four stated excitedly, eager to meet Three and the Cap'n.

As they got closer to the house the noise turned out to be yelling followed by the sound of something breaking.

" Huh what was…" Callie was cut off.

" _Quickly get…. on the table! "_

" _Three you need to calm down the old man won't.."_

" _DON'T YOU TELL ME TO FUCKING CALM DOWN YOU MIDGET, MY BEST FRIEND IS BLEEDING OUT AND YOU WANT ME TO FUCKING CALM DOWN!"_

Callie, Marie and Four froze at the just outside the door ' _What?!'._

" _AND PANICKING WON'T HELP THEM SO CALM THE FUCK DOWN! "_

" _Marina I need you and Eight to go to the basement and get the medical supplies, Pearl please take Three out front to calm down and._.. "

" _LIKE HELL OLD MAN I AM NOT LEAVING I'M… "_ But the voice was cut off by the door slamming open.

The occupants stared at the now open door and the figure that just burst in.

" What in the shell is going on in he…" the person stopped eyes widened in horror. " Marie what's wrong? Why did you just stop in..the..middle" Four spoke only to stop and stare at the site before them in shock.

A loud gasp broke the silence, Marie turned to see her cousin staring at the table her eyes widened in shock and horror, her hands covering her mouth.

For on the table in a puddle of dark ink like blood layed a friend… A fellow agent…. Agent 0.

A strangled name escaped Callie's lips _"Naru….."_

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 **Hey all how ya been, now to start thing's of yes this is technically a challenge fic, but as well as a kinda prototype one shot.**

 **Seeing as I'm kinda new and as you saw suck at writing I thought "** _ **what the hell may as well get this idea out there".**_

 ** _Oh and the character ages are:_**

 ** _Naruto or Naruko: (S1) 18 (S2) 20._**

 ** _Callie &Marie: (S1) 17 (S2) 19._**

 ** _Agents 3 &8 (S1) 15 (S2) 17._**

 ** _Agent 4 (S1) 16 (S2) 18._**

 ** _Pearl (S1) 19 (S2) 21._**

 ** _Marina (S1) 17 (S2) 19._**

 **So then the stipulations for the challenge are as follows:**

Naru/Callie or Naru/Callie/Marie.

Three/Eight

Pearl/Marina

Four/? 

Naruto or Naruko, your choice.

Must start at either the beginning of Splatoon 1 or the beginning of the Octo expansion in 2.

Fem. Agent 3, 8 & 4\. 

Squid Sisters and Naru have a prior friendship with Pearl(how so is up to you). 

Naru acts like an older sibling Three( for example Three's cloak was given to her by Naru/Agent 0). 

How Naru wound up in that world is from Commander Tartar and some form of one time dimensional based experiment( one way trip no going back) and was either found as a baby by Cap'n Cuttlefish or as a child( either 7 or 9 years old) having escaped from Tartar. 

Naru and the Squid Sisters have a falling out of sorts before the events of Splatoon 1.

Feel free to use sea life puns for cursing… It's always funny and on that note 3, 4 & 8's names… Number puns? 

Naru's ink colour: A dark orange. 

Naru's tentacles(hair?): Gold yellow that becomes a sunset orange shade near the ends. 

Water not being deadly to both Inklings and Octolings(with the exceptions of a few cases) 

**And there you have it, feel free to ask about more information. And with that I bid you all a good night….. Aaaaand I kinda hope this gets picked up I'd write it myself( I may do my own version down the Line) buuut my writing skills suck, that and I wrote this of a phone…. Not fun.**


	2. Another side, Another beginning

_A different side a different beginning…._

 ** _So the main difference with this chapter now is that I added a bit more explanation to certain things, as well as fixed some of the grammar issues and I also added a few more bits and pieces as well as a slight build up to a certain thing that happens next chapter._**

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Morning in Inkopolis was usually a fairly straightforward ordeal, people got up did their morning routine and then either went to work or went to do some Turf War, or hell some just lazed around most of the day. Simple right?...Well no for one Inkling. " _Why the hell does this always happen when I_ _haven't_ _had any sleep?_ " thought a rather tired rather angry Inkling, as she stared at the _invaders_ in her living room…or rather really she just glared at the duo sitting on her couch.

"So… Are you going to explain why you lot are here, or am I going to have to _beat it_ out of you?" she said as her eye twitched, making the others in the room very nervous.

The smallest of the group spoke up " Now now Ruko no need to get violent… Right? " the now named 'Ruko' spoke up." Well Pearl let me ask you this, how would _you_ feel if a group of people broke into _your_ home whilst you were in the shower? Oh and let's not forget a certain two of your group happen to be on my shit list.. And on top of that I only got home myself an hour ago so I have _yet_ to sleep at all, so tell me _Pearlie_ why should I not get _violent?_ " she spoke her tone dripping with venom her eyes slowly bleeding red.

 **(Ah but to understand what is happening let's take things back about fifteen minutes) .**

A group of people stood at the bottom floor of an apartment building, Said group consisted of five Inklings and two Octolings. "This is _not_ a good idea." the orange haired Inkling spoke up, gaining the attention of the group " Oh and why is that Three?" asked the yellow Inkling. Three looked at her with a deadpan look " Well Four it's because Zero is _NOT_ a morning person… And even less so if she has not slept yet, which by the way I doubt she has. ".

" Huh that's it? Wow that's kinda... Disappointing... I think?" Four asked confused " Well there's that and the fact both Callie and Marie are coming with…. So yeah this is gonna be a shit show. " Three explained while shooting a pointed glare at the two who did not seem to be paying attention but they were and they were trying not to panic about the coming scenario, this only made Four even more confused. Seeing this Pearl explained " There is a bit of bad blood between Naruko and those two… I ain't going into details it's… Kinda personal between them, but let me tell ya if Ruko's eyes go red get the _fuck outta her way_ , or she will most likely throw you through a wall…. Or window. " Ok now Four was both confused and a little scared.

But not as terrified as Marina ' _Why did I agree to come along?'_ she thought.

As the group entered the elevator Eight noticed the look on Marina's face " Marina what wrong?" she asked quietly.

Pearl then followed " Yeah babe you look constipated, what's wrong?" she asked, Marina looked Pearl dead in the eye " Oh I don't know Pearl, maybe it's because we are going to the home of _Naruko 'fucking' Uzumaki_ you know _Agent 0_ the fucking _WRAITH OF OCTO-CANYON!_ _"_ she said ending with a yell as this was _NOT_ an agent that she was ready to meet, hell the mere idea if being in the same building Naruko made Marina want to run as fast and as far as she could. Especially after she narrowly escaped death last time unlike those poor bastards at Octo-Weapons Facility H. _' Thank God I was transferred to the Wasabi replenishment unit a month before that... Massacre.'_ Marina thought as she remembered the footage of Agent 0...of Naruko just... Just butchering her way through the men and women, the soldiers, the scientists and the engineers that where stationed at the facility, anything she could get her hands on she made into a weapon of pain and suffering...nothing survived not one member of the facilities personnel nor any of the team sent to investigate and extract any personnel .

It was a fucking nightmare, like something out of a horror film... Hell not even the Cap'n knew what sent her into such a rage... Or at least that's what he says.

Callie and Marie looked at each other ' _We are so dead.'_ they thought... Yeah this was not going to be fun, well maybe for maybe for Three. She for whatever reason found it hilarious whenever stuff like this happened, the sadistic little bitch.

As the elevators reached its destination the group began to shuffle out " Hey Three what number is her place again" Pearl asked " Number 19" Three responded, this got Callie curious " And how exactly do you know what number she lives in Three? You never actually said." Three answered without looking back "I crash at her place sometimes, what's it to you?" Callie responded "Oh.. I was.. I was just curious is all." Three kept walking.

As they walked Callie fell behind the group ' _Why is everything getting kinda blurry_ _?_ ' she though as a sudden wave of dizziness hit her and made her stumble and fall against the wall, Pearl noticed this and and stopped "You ok there Callie?" She asked, getting the attention of the others. Callie gently pushed her self of the wall and stumbled forward a little before regaining her footing. " Yeah." She started " Just... Just a little tired is all." Callie said with a tired smile.

As they continued down the hall Four spoke up " So are you and Zero dating or something Three?" she asked causing to group to halt and Three to start spluttering " NO! Oh god no, Four that's nasty she's pretty much my older sister! And I already explained this you little incest obsessed perv!" Three yelled putting the smaller but older girl into a headlock, much to Four's displeasure.

After that incident they finally arrived at Number 19. And that's when the fun began.

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"Shit." Three swore "Of course I bloody forgot the key." cause the others to look at her with varying expressions, mainly either a relieved one or a 'are you kidding me' one.

But Pearl came up with a solution…. She picked the lock, how or why she knows how to do that they did not know but that was it they were in, no turning back now.

They entered Naruko's/Agent 0's apartment. Well they would have if Three did not hold her arm out to stop them making them look at her oddly. " Take your shoes of at the door please, the last thing we need is Naruko kicking our asses because we tracked dirt on the carpet." Three said with a light shudder. The others gave her a flat look "What? Would you like it if people tracked dirt onto your clean floor, also it's a nice carpet." Three said as she removed her shoes the others just shrugged in agreement and did the same.

" Huh nice place." Pearl said as they entered the living room, it had two brown couches with separate matching recliners a coffee table in front of the couches and a 65" flat screen TV sitting on a cabinet with some video game consoles and underneath the furniture was a soft forest green carpet all in all it was a nice set up, the sound of the shower running greeted them, " Sooo do we sit or…" Eight asked, Three just shrugged and moved to sit at the bench dividing the living room from the kitchen Eight sat next to her, Callie, Marie and Four sat on the far couch and Pearl and Marina stayed standing(mainly because Marina wanted to be ready to leg it).

As they waited for the shower to stop Callie and Marie talked with each other " _Is this really a good idea Marie?"_ Callie whispered " _Not really but what choice do we have, Gramps needs to talk with her about why she was in the Metro._ " Marie responded " _Yeah I get that but Marie you do realise we are going to get our asses kicked right._ " Callie said, Marie only nodded.

Then quiet the shower had stopped and now all that was left was for them to wait Naruko to come out, a moment later the bathroom door opened and then the sound of footsteps made its was to the living room ' _Here we go.'_ Three thought as the figure came out of the hall.

The Inkling that had just entered was tall, standing at 6'. She was clad in only a white towel that contrasted lightly with her sun-kissed skin and that tried restrain her rather large bust and stopped just below her round rear, her eyes where a ocean blue that had dark bags under them. She had an had a slim yet muscular build similar to a swimmers however the most eye catching features where her whisker like marks on her face and her long crimson coloured with sunset orange tipped tentacles(hair?) that reached down to her heels that had a slightly less 'rounded' shape to them… And the X shaped scar on her left wrist along with a noticeable scar across the side of her neck.

Naruko stopped and looked around her living room, her confused look soon turned to anger as she set her eyes on Callie and Marie, "So… Are you going to explain why you lot are here, or am I going to have to _beat it_ out of you?" Naruko said with an agitated tone.

The smallest of the group spoke up " Now now Ruko no need to get violent… Right? " Naruko turned her gaze to Pearl who shrank back a little " Well Pearl let me ask you this, how would _you_ feel if a group of people broke into _your_ home whilst you were in the shower? Oh and let's not forget a certain two of your group happen to be on my shit list.. And on top of that I only got home myself an hour ago so I have _yet_ to sleep at all, so tell me _Pearlie_ why should I not get _violent?_ " she spoke her tone dripping with venom her eyes slowly bleeding red.

 _' Oh shit... We are so fucked'_ Pearl thought as she backed up slightly. Yeah... This was NOT gonna be a fun morning.

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 **Sooo yeah Naruko absolutely fucking decimated an Octoling R &D facility, one that Marina had been stationed at only a few days prior( by the way in this fic Slimeskin Garrison is essentially the name for a cluster of Barracks and R&D facilities... Mainly because I'm not actually sure just what that place is and by that I mean is it just one big garrison or is it multiple facilities? I still can't tell...Kettles fucking confuse me). I bet you guys did not see THAT coming, now the reason behind said massacre is kinda in the air at the moment I have an idea or two but they need some ironing out but from what I can say for now is the destruction of the facility ended up being beneficial( in a way... Kinda) to the Octolings in the long run. **

**Two of the ideas are as follows.**

 **1\. The higher ups of Facility H where working with Kamabo and doing some very VERY messed up experiments behind Octavios back.**

 **(just know the next one is kinda...fucked up)**

 **2\. The Flooder type enemies had a prototype version to test if living brains could make the Octo-Weapons more efficient that was developed at Facility H without the knowledge or authorisation of Octavio...A version that that used the harvested brains of Octoling children in a similar fashion to what happens in Metal Gear:Rising Revengence with what Desperado did with those orphans and street kids.**

 **So yeah those are two of the ideas, and before you ask no Marina had no idea of the darker stuff happening at Facility H.(Neither did Octavio but Meh.)**

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 _ **Well there you have it an alternate beginning, and perhaps the start of my version of my challenge.**_

 _ **I hope you all enjoyed it(I know I did) and I hope to hear back from you fellas.**_

 _ **Well I've taken enough of your time hope to see you all again soon.**_

 _ **Also remember if you're interested in the challenge just PM me. See ya all next time.**_


	3. Another side, Another beginning(part 2)

**Hey people Silvanium here with another chapter, now just to clarify this is a continuation of the last chapter. So get ready for a tired and angry Naruko that wants only to go to sleep and not be pestered followed by a rather…Painful set of flashbacks for Naruko after a certain A.I(Blob thingy) is brought up.( Ahh but what these flashbacks are, that's for another time. But to I'll give you a hint, it involves Kamabo and what happened before the Cap'n found her and as well as Naruko having a 'slight' case of PTSD) and following this something bad happens to one of the characters, what you ask… Well read on and find out… But let me tell ya I can not write scenes like that for shit( Tell me what you think)… I really need someone to pick this challenge up….**

 **Also leave a review, tell me what you think of this fic and be truthful… Don't worry I can take it… I think? Any way on with the story.**

 **Also I have touched up this chapter and added a few more things, I hope you enjoy them.**

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 _Another side, Another beginning(part 2)_

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Silence, that was all that could be heard in Naruko's home the others stood looking at her shocked( afraid in Marina and Callie's instance). Three looked at Naruko with a deadpan gaze "Was that _really_ necessary Sis?" she asked looking at the scene before her.

Naruko took her eyes off the downed Inkling "What?" she said with a shrug " She knew what was coming… Now onto the other one" she said eyeing Callie, ' _I KNEW THIS WAS A BAD IDEA!_ ' Callie panicked internally.

 **(OK let's step back a few minutes)**

"So no answer? Ok then who wants an ass kicking first!?" Naruko stated as she glared at Callie and Marie, both sat there frozen.

Before Naruko could advance Three spoke up " C'mon Sis, let it go for now you can always do this later… That and Callie looks like she's about to wet herself." Naruko stopped and said " And if she did that she'll be cleaning it with her damn tongue after I… Finish…beating her." she came to a stop finally getting a good look at Three ' _Oh boy here we go.'_ Three thought.

" OH MY GOD EKOLU! WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO YOUR EYE!?" Naruko shouted her anger replaced with concern as she rushed over to Three, not caring that she was only clad in a smallish towel.

' _What?'_ the other occupants of the room thought at seeing Naruko go from 'pissed and ready to brawl' mode to 'concerned and overprotective big sister' mode, much to Three…No Ekolu's embarrassment.

" It's nothing Naruko just small scar." Ekolu tried to reason but to no avail " A small scar? EKOLU YOUR FUCKING EYE IS COMPLETELY DISCOLOURED! THAT IS NOT A SMALL FUCKING SCAR!" Naruko shouted.

"Umm Miss Naruko." a quiet voice spoke next to them, causing both Naruko and Ekolu to look to their side, " Yes… Ummm?" Naruko asked " Eight, I go by Eight at the moment, and Three is right her wound is not as bad as it looks, it's only where Commander Tartar took control of her." Eight stated innocently not knowing the havoc she just started.

The room went dead quiet the only sound was Naruko's shuddering breaths as her eyes widened and glass over lightly ' _Oh.. Oh shit this ain't good. Damn it Eight you really need to learn when to keep your mouth shut.'_ Ekolu thought

Pearl, Callie and Marie also knew what was happening and had a mixed look of concern between them, Four and Marina were lost as to what was happening.

" _Did… Did you say Commander… Commander Tartar….That fucking A.I from Kamabo did this to her?"_ Naruko asked Eight her voice close to cracking. Eight tilted her head to the side curiously "Yes, but don't worry I beat him and got him off of her head before any lasting damage could be done…. I think." she said not really knowing why Naruko was acting like this.

Ekolu tried to explain just what happened but to no avail, Naruko just stood there with a blank look on her face her eyes slowly beginning to water. " Look Sis I'm fine, no need to panic I'm ok." Ekolu said, Naruko slowly turned to look at her " Uhh Sis… You're freaking me ou..mmmph. " Ekolu did not get the chance to finish as Naruko pulled her into a hug causing Ekolu to lose balance and send them both tumbling to the floor.

The others just sat in silence not knowing what to do "Uhh is… Is Zero alright?" Four asked, Pearl looked at her " I…. I don't know. Maybe?" she said." He.. Hey Eko. Is Naruko ok?" Pearl asked.

Ekolu answered by standing up and responding " Yeah she's good. She just had a little… Episode, right Sis." as Naruko got up beside her, Ekolu's face flushed a little " Uhh Ruko." She started causing Naruko to look at her, "Your Uhh your towel…." She finished looking away.

Naruko looked down " Oh." She shrugged and bent over to grab the towel, as she stood she looked at the others.

Ekolu was looking away red faced, Eight was sorta just… Staring at her curiously, Marina was trying not to stare, Pearl just gave her a deadpan look. She looked towards the others, Marie had one hand covering Fours eyes and her other covering hers a faint blush was evident on her face, and Callie… Well having having caught an eyeful of Naruko bending over she was out like a light.

Naruko shrugged and made her way to her room "I'm gonna go get dressed." She said as she walked off not bothering to put the towel back on.

"Well." Marie started "That happened." as she finally uncovered hers and Fours eyes " Uhh girls." Four said causing them to look at her "Is Callie dead?" She said as she poked Callie's face causing everyone to sweat drop. " Also what's wrong with her?" Four said pointing to the corner where Pearl was crouched with a rain cloud over her head as she mumbled things like _'not fair.'_ and _' I'm the oldest, why is everyone bigger the me.'_.

" _Really Pearl?_ " thought everyone.

Marina walked over to Pearl and gently pet her on the head "There, there Pearlie your perfect to me." but that only made her worse.

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 _ **(A few minutes later)**_

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Marie stood from the couch with Callie and Four " Well girls it's been… Interesting but we gotta get going. Do you think you could tell Naruko to go see Gramps to debrief later?" Ekolu nodded her head "Yeah will do, Sis probably fell asleep or…not." She finished as Naruko came out of the hall now fully dressed in some casual clothes.

"And why do I need to debrief with Gramps?" Naruko asked. Ekolu explained that Cap'n Cuttlefish wanted to know why she was in the Metro and what she found. "Huh ok then we…*sigh* let's go then." Naruko said causing Ekolu to look at her weirdly " Really… Dressed like that Sis?" she pointed out seeing as Naruko was only wearing a loose orange tank-top and a pair of black shorts. " What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Naruko asked.

"Really Ruko?" Pearl said, her eye twitching. "What?" Naruko said still not knowing what her problem was, " you do realise that one slight breeze and you be showing your chest right? And from my angle I can see pretty much your entire left tit with how loose that tank-top is, right?" she said" Ugh fine I'll get changed _again_ , and on that note remember all the times _you_ forgot pants Pearlie~" Naruko said with a cheeky grin as she walked back to her room.

"Well we'll meet you there and… Really Pearl again" Marie said looking at Pearl who was in the corner _again._ ' _So mean!_ ' Pearl thought, the rain cloud bigger than before.

" _Oh shit that's what I was forgetting!_ " Naruko exclaimed loudly from her room followed by the sound of her moving quickly down the hall.

"Huh wha..." Marie was cut off by a fast right hook to the left side of her face, knocking her over the coffee table and onto the floor. ' _Oh shit, it's going down!_ ' Pearl thought.

 **(Aaand back to the present)**

Ekolu looked at Naruko with a deadpan gaze "Was that _really_ necessary Sis?" she asked looking at the scene before her.

Naruko took her eyes off the downed Inkling "What?" she said with a shrug " She knew what was coming… Now onto the other one" she said eyeing Callie, ' _I KNEW THIS WAS A BAD IDEA!_ ' Callie panicked internally.

Callie braced herself for the incoming punch…waiting….waiting…. It came. Or really a hand gently cupping her face did ' _Wha..what's she doing?_ ' Callie thought.

"Cal open your eyes please, I need to check something." Naruko said with a slightly concerned tone.

Callie did as Naruko asked and looked her in the eyes, albeit a tad reluctantly ' _Hmm slight dilation of the pupils and a slight hazy unfocused gaze… What about?'_ Naruko lightly clicked her fingers next Callie's right ear causing her right eye to twitch. "Cal… Have you… Have you worn Hypnoshades in the last month by any chance?" Naruko asked as she shifted her eyes towards Marina then back to Callie.

Callie's eyes widened as did Marina's ' _HYPNOSHADES! OH NONONONO! I'M SO SCREWED.'_ Marina thought in a panic as she eyed the door.

" Ye.. Yeah I got squidnapped about a month and a half ago by the Octarians…. And I was forced to wear a pair of them…. How did you know? " Callie asked." And how long ago was it that you got rescued?" Naruko asked ' _Please for the love of God say a week or two after you where squidnapped'_ She followed up in her mind.

" At about seven last night…. Why?" Callie asked but she then checked the time on her phone " Oh wait it's seven in the morning so about ten or so hours ago.." Callie corrected, Naruko's and Marinas eyes widened ' _not good_.. ' Naruko thought.

" Wait what's going on Naruko?" Ekolu asked confused looking back and forward between Naruko and Callie.

"Hypnoshades Ekolu, She wore bloody Hypnoshades for over a damn month." Naruko exclaimed. "This ain't good Ekolu it's.." A soft thud of a phone hitting the carpet interrupted Naruko causing her to look back to Callie.

"Na.. Naru..I..I don't feel good.. " Callie whimpered, her eyes now completely hazy and unfocused.

Callie stumbled forward and tripped only for Naruko to catch her " Easy Cal I got ya.. I.." ' blargh'  "Got ya…" Naruko finished after Callie threw up on her. That's when things got worse, Callie began to twitch and shiver in Naruko's arms.

" Shit… SHIT, SHE'S GOING INTO HYPNO-SHOCK! ***** " Naruko shouted as she tried to lay Callie down gently.

"What.. What's hypno-shock!" Four yelled as she hurried over to Naruko and Callie, the others(minus Marie who is still unconscious) followed suit.

"Ask Marina." Naruko stated trying to keep the shaking Callie in a comfortable position.

All eyes(minus Callie,Marie and Naruko) where now on Marina " Ummm…Hypno…. Hypno-shock is a after effect from prolonged use of the hypnoshades… It tends to occur roughly ten to fifteen hours after they have been removed… It can vary in severity, but.. " Marina stopped." But what!" Four yelled.

"Well she said she had them on for a month and a half right?" Marina asked getting a nod from Four. " Well that means she is going to be in for perhaps the worst next few hours of her life… The symptoms she will 'likely' have is vomiting, hallucinations, fever, and probably night terrors. And that's not counting the possibility of her suffering some lingering after effects. " Marina finished.

Four stared her dead in the eyes "How… How do you know so much about these things?" she asked. Before Marina could respond however "Shit she's burning up, Ekolu go run a lukewarm bath for her, Pearl get on the phone and call Gramps." Naruko ordered as they did what she asked.

"Four try to wake Marie up, and Marina… Help me get her to the bathroom OK… Oh and Eight uhh go sit with Pearl. " Naruko finished as she gently picked Callie up with Marina's help and made her way to the bathroom.

Four moved over to Marie and shook her gently "Marie… Marie you need to get up… Like now." Marie groaned slightly and slowly began to get up. "Ow ow owww…Why does she always punch me in the left eye?" She groaned out holding her eye.

Marie looked around the room with her good eye "Uhh Four… Where is everyone?" She asked, Four explained what had happened after she was punched out. As she finished Pearl and Eight came out of the kitchen "Well the Old Man was not picking up, so I guess he's asleep." She said as she sat down on one of the couches." And I see your up… How's the eye?" She asked Marie who shrugged " I've had worse." she said while thinking _' Not that I did not deserve it last time… *sigh* I really need to apologise to Naruko about what I said to her back then.'._

"Are you sure you're OK Ekolu? She kicked you in the face pretty hard." Marina said as she and Ekolu entered the living room, Ekolu responded with a nod as she held her bloodied nose. "What happened to her?" Pearl asked "Callie did… And by that I mean she kicked me in the face when we were trying to get her in the bath and don't worry it's nothing…. We'll compared to what she did to Naruko. And by that I mean she bit her… Like hard and then Naruko had to hop in with her to stop her from thrashing to much and accidentally drowning herself." Ekolu responded.

Four then decided to speak up " Wait if she has a fever shouldn't Naruko do something other than a bath? I thought baths did not help that much?" Four asked not understanding why they put Callie in a bath." Well Four." Marie began." That's because whenever Callie gets a fever her whole body begins to overheat… No clue why it just does, I mean it happens to me to… But nowhere near as bad. So whenever she gets a bad fever it's either a trip to the hospital or a somewhat tepid bath, though the hospital would be the better option... But then they would ask questions, and well..you know we kinda got to keep what we do on a need to know basis. " Marie explained getting a nod from Four.

" Yeah that's right ain't it." Pearl said " Hell I remember that one time we had a sleepover when we were kids and we had to make an emergency trip to the hospital…Shit that was bad" She finished, getting a nod from Marie and a quiet "Yeah.. It was."

Pearl then however got a small devilish smirk " I also remember _you_ bawling your eyes out all night because you thought she was gonna die… You know AFTER the doctor told you and your Gramps she was gonna be fine." Pearl said getting an embarrassed blush from Marie.

"He… Hey I was only eleven Pearl… And you promised to never speak of that!" Marie shouted getting a round of chuckles from the others in the room.

Ekolu then asked Marie " You know to be honest I'm surprised you haven't rushed up to the bathroom to check on Callie yet." Making Her look away " Look it may not seem like it but…I trust Naruko, and if she is trying to make Callie better then… I won't get in the way, hell I'd probably just get punched out again." Marie said getting a nod from Ekolu who then stood from the couch and stretched slightly.

"Well I'm gonna go get changed, I've been wearing this for over a week…. Oh and Ruko said to help yourselves to the fridge." Ekolu said as she walked to her room.

" Welp that's all the invitation I needed." Pearl said as she made her way to the fridge getting an amused chuckle from Marie, "Hmm OK let's see what we have here." Pearl said as she opened the fridge " Beer, beer, beer, Pepsi, Orange juice… WITH Pulp, beer again, Vanilla-Coke, some water bottles, some cans of Monster Energy drink aaaand a bottle of milk…Expired milk…. Ew nasty." she said as she grabbed a can of Monster( she went for the beer first but Marina sent her a stern glare) and the bottles of Pepsi and Vanilla-Coke.

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 **(fifteen minutes later)**

* * *

Ekolu reentered the living room fifteen minutes later dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a black tank-top, and sat on the couch next to Eight who had fallen asleep. She grabbed a cup and poured herself a drink " Oh. By the way Naruko will be out soon, she just trying to get Callie to a bed to rest." She said as she looked at the others.

" *sigh* God I am so fucking tired." Three said as she gently rubbed the now slightly discoloured side of her face. All she wanted right now was to just fall into her nice soft bed and sleep for a week, especially after the fucked up shit she and Naruko had to traverse through when they had briefly met up in the Kamabo facilities lab _' Ugh I'm gonna have nightmares for weeks from that shit…. I hope Ruko ain't too shaken up about what we saw...fuck she probably is, the fuck was she even doing there?'_ Ekolu questioned in her mind, just what was Naruko doing in the Deep-sea Metro, why the hell indeed.

While Ekolu was lost in thought she did not notice Naruko re-enter the living room and lean on the couch, nor did she notice the look Pearl gave Naruko because of her current attire which now consisted of a pair of black gym shorts and a purple long-sleeved buttoned shirt that was mostly unbuttoned.

"How is she Naruko?" Marie asked greeting the tired Inklings attention, with a tired sigh Naruko responded " Well she's sleeping for now… Other than that… We'll just have to wait and see when she wakes up." Marie nodded at that " You can go in and check on her if you want, she's in my room… The last one on the left." Naruko suggested but Marie shook her head.

"No I'll let her get some sleep she needs it… Also Naruko I… I wanted to thank y-. " Marie began only to be cut off. " Don't thank me Marie, I… *sigh* look Marie." Naruko began " Me and you may…be currently at odds with each other and you did something that I.. I just can't forgive you for at the moment but no matter what. You, Pearl and Cal will _always_ be my best friends... My... My family even. " She said as she looked away with a sad smile "And if you honestly thought I'd let either of you suffer something like this and not try to help.. Heh then I guess I would need to kick your ass again like two years ago." Naruko finished with a tired smile.

Marie smiled lightly at that. Naruko stood up and gave a loud yawn while she stretched, however in doing so her partially open shirt exposed a good portion of her large bust. " Well I'm gonna catch some sleep, you get to bed to Ekolu." Naruko began getting a sleepy nod from Ekolu who slowly walked off to her room.

Naruko turned to the others " And I take it the rest of you are gonna just hang out here till Callie wakes up?" She asked getting nods from them," Well if you get bored feel free to watch some TV or use one of the consoles" Naruko said followed by her yawning again however this time she noticed the pointed look Pearl was giving her.

"What?" was all Naruko said causing Pearl's eye to twitch " Damn it Naruko stop unintentionally sexualizing things, I already get that enough at home with Marina." She yelled getting an embarrassed squeak from Marina.

This caused Naruko to halt as she made her way to the hallway " You think I'm unintentionally sexualizing things?" she asked getting a nod from majority of the room causing her to giggle lightly. " Oh _dear sweet Pearlie_." Naruko began " When have I _ever_ done something unintentionally?" she said with a flirty smirk making Pearl blush brightly.

" Hehehe Naruko one, Pearl zero." Naruko laughed as she walked down the hallway as she was walking she shrugged and decided to go to Ekolu's room, as she reached it she saw the door was open and entered. Naruko smiled lightly at her sister who was out like a light she moved towards the bed and sat down on next to Ekolu.

Naruko sighed lightly before laying down on the large bed " Scooch over sis, I'm bunking with you." She said as Ekolu lifted her head and looked at her with a half asleep gaze and rolled to the left slightly, only for her to roll back and latch onto Naruko when she had gotten into a comfortable position causing Naruko to chuckle lightly " _G'night Eko."_ She whispered as she gave Ekolu a gentle kiss on the top of her head before drifting of to sleep herself.

 **(In the living room)**

Back in the living room Four looked at Marie and asked " OK. One, are all of your friends this weird? And two, is it wrong that I think she is kinda hot?" Four asked getting a glare from Marie, and while this was happening Eight snoozed quietly on the couch having fell asleep shortly after Ekolu went to her room to get changed thus is completely oblivious to the last ten minutes and the ensuring 'Talk' between Four and Marie.

After a few minutes Marina decided to ask a question. " Umm Marie." she asked getting said Inklings attention from her current task, I.e having Four in a headlock for saying her friends are weird...And for admitting to ogling Naruko. "Yeah Marina what do you need?" Marie said as she let Four go. "I uhh, I was just wondering... What did Naruko mean by you did something to her that she can't bring herself to forgive you for yet?" Marina asked making Marie's eye's widen before she looked away Four then decided to add her two coins "Yeah what IS her problem anyway? What did the two of you date at some point or something?" she asked causing Pearl to choke on her drink in shock and Marie to look away sadly with a slight nod.

Four and Marina's eyes widened " Holy... Shit, are you... Are you for real?" Four asked dumbfounded Marie took a deep breath and responded " Yeah... We uhh... We didn't end things on the best of terms." she said getting a scoff from Pearl " You mean you dumped her because your bitch of a manager told you that a relationship would ruin your career...which by the way we all know she was full of shit Marie. " Pearl said with no small amount of venom in her voice.

" You think that I don't fucking regret what I did... What I said to her Pearl! For the last two goddamn years I've tried to make it up to her but I- "Marie was cut off before she could finish. " Oh, so now you feel bad about breaking her fucking heart huh? Miss ' I never loved you I only pitied you'." Pearl began " You even blamed her for the Great Zapfish getting taken two years back, how in the fuck was she supposed to prevent that huh? Seeing as she was covering both you and Callie by pulling triple patrols because you two where to damn busy being idols, fuck I'm surprised the damn stress from all of that shit didn't kill her not that you gave a shit then." She finished.

Four decided that now was the time to step in seeing that Pearl looked ready to beat the hell out of Marie and well Marie herself was on the verge of tears." Hold up, guys let's not let things get outta hand. We are guests after all, well that and Callie and the others are asleep so yeah." Four said as she tried to ease the situation " How about this. Marie how about you tell us how this all began." She said getting a nod from Marie.

" I guess I should start from the beginning then." Marie said as she wiped the tears from her eyes...

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.

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( **To Be Continued..** )

* * *

 **That's right people this chapter and the last one where only just the prologue, the next few chapters will brush over the falling out between Naruko and Callie &Marie as well as the events of Splatoon, so I am sorry if I take a while to update... I'm still kinda trying to get in the groove of things. **

**H** **oly shit… That took way too long to write( then to slightly rewrite), well I hope you fellas enjoyed it. Man you do not know how many times I rewrote the last part of this chapter.. And to be honest I like this version on the ending more then the last...also hypnoshock…. Yes I know stupid( in both execution and name…. You come up with something better) but I needed something to push the story forward and I thought having a negative impact from prolonged use of hypnoshades would be interesting.**

 **Ahh and as for the new segments well, I was tossing the idea around in my head and I thought 'Meh might as well'. And just so you know I am NOT bashing Marie, she just made some very VERY big mistakes before the events of Splatoon 1**

 **Also something I forgot to say before the reason Marina freaked out about the Hypnoshades is because they where created in Facility H(well a version of them where), She had a very VERY minor roll in the creation of the version that was used on Callie and by that I mean she just drew up a basic prototype schematic on how to improve it not knowing that they went ahead with said improvements. And that it self is something she only just recently found out about.. .Like during the events of the Octo-Expansion.**

 **And on that note I bet you are all wondering just what happened in Naruko's past, both with the squid sisters and with what happened to her as a child at Kamabo… Well you will just have to wait now won't you.**

 **So yeah I've decided to somewhat make this a properish fic, it's still a challenge but this is my version of it, also God damn I suck at pacing.**

 **But anyway I'll see you all next chapter, be sure to leave a review and tell me what you think… No really please…I'm so lonely. But yeah tell me what you guys and gals think.**

 **Welp it's 3am time to sleep…or play RDR2…. Or both?**


	4. Interlude of Beginnings

**What's good people, Silvanium here with a new chapter…Sorry for the delay but I had some rather annoying crap that happened and that took up majority of my time.**

 **And look…. I'm gonna be serious here and say, this chapter is a bit….disjointed I tried my best to sync it all up but it still feels off. So I'm probably going to rewrite it in the future when my writing skills increase.**

 **Also sorry in advance if the more emotional parts of this chapter seem kinda….Bad, Yeah I'm still getting the hang of writing this kinda stuff so advice and criticism are welcome.**

 **So please don't lynch me I don't want to rush it and make it a mess of a chapter…. Not like the last chapters aren't a mess as is.**

 **Also before I forget, interms of how the characters would look... Hmm just imagine them in Hizake's art style.**

 **And on that note… MERRY FUCKING CHRISTMAS YOU LOVELY BASTARDS!**

 _ **Pearl: Uhh you kinda missed Squidmas dude.**_

 _ **Silvanium: Wait WHAT!?**_

 _ **Naruko: Aaand New Year's… . But really man we are like more then half way through January.**_

 _ **Silvanium:... Well shit, also shut up I was busy.**_

 _ **Pearl: Sure you where, also have fun.**_

 _ **Slivanium: Huh?**_

 _ **Callie: Oh yeah, ? Is pissed that we never got a Squidmas chapter.**_

 _ **Naruko: Shhh don't call her that yet you dummy, her name is Eight still. So no spoilers!**_

 _ **Callie: Oops almost forgot hehehe. Oh hey there's Eight.**_

 _ **Silvanium: Hey Eight, sorry about Squidmas… What's with the look?**_

 _ **Eight:...**_

 _ **Silvanium:...Oookay...hey what's that your holding behind…Your…. Back….**_

 _ **Eight:... Fruitcake.**_

 _ **Silvanium: Oh shit… Uh… Ummm. Gottagobye.**_

 _ **Eight: The hunt begins.**_

 _ **Pearl:...**_

 _ **Callie:...**_

 _ **Naruko:...**_

' _ **Angry Octoling yelling in the distance'**_

 _ **Naruko: Oooookay…. That happened, well seeing as Silvanium is being chased by a small angry Octoling girl that is armed with a rock hard fruitcake. I guess I'm starting this so yeah. On with the show I guess.**_

"Normal talk"

' _Thought'_

" **Wraith mode*"**

' _Intercom/Loudspeaker/Microphone/Radio/ Television'_

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

* * *

 _Interlude of beginnings-_

 _How all this began or as Pearl calls it,' Marie's big fuck up.'_

 **(Naruko's apartment)**

 **June 25th. 2018**

 **8:30 am**

The living room of the apartment was quiet.

Marina, Four and the now awake and slightly grumpy Eight stared at Marie with varying looks of anticipation.

"Well…. Uhmm I guess I should… Uhh." Marie stammered not knowing where to begin, Her eyes… Well her good eye, _because her bruised one hurt to have open,_ scanned the room whilst trying to avoid eye contact with the smaller, angrier Inkling that was sitting across from her. _'Damn it, why the hell is this so hard?'_ She thought to herself, why the hell was she having a hard time explaining what had happened two years ago. Marie glanced at Pearl who looked to be getting more and more agitated the more she delayed. She knew it was only a matter of time before Pearl would just take over and tell them what happened from her limited perspective…Yeah that would not paint Marie in the most positive light, if anything it would make her look like a cruel bitch.

' _Not that I don't deserve to be seen like that…'_ Marie thought bitterly, in her opinion she deserves this. To be seen as a horrible person, hell why not _' I drove away somebody who only wanted to love me… I broke her heart, and for what? Because that fucking bitch told me to!?'_ Marie thought angrily as she remembered how this all began _'God who am I kidding. I'm just as much to blame for believing that manipulative bitch… if not more so, I had a perfect relationship and boom I fuck it up…'_ She thought as she clenched her fists in anger her eyes tearing up slightly.

' _Heh of course, I haven't even began to explain what happened and I'm already tearing up… Fuck I'm pathetic.'_ Marie thought. After taking a few shuddering breath she tried again.

"I guess… I guess this all began about just over two years ago, about a week or so before Squidmas…"

 ** _Flashback_**

 **December 14th. 2015 (Two days before the break up, thirty-seven days before the Great Zapfish gets taken.)**

 **(The Squid Sisters 'and Naruko's' apartment.)**

 _ **6:30 am**_

"Wakey Wakey sleepy heads!"

Marie stirred slightly at the rather loud and slightly obnoxious voice that yelled out for the other side of her bedroom door and woke her up from a rather pleasant sleep. Before attempting to bury her head in her pillow, not wanting to leave the comfortable embrace of sleep. This was a wasted effort as her _'pillow'_ began to move beneath her.

"Were up Cal, no need to *yawn* yell." a gentle slightly groggy voice spoke from beneath her. A small smile made its way to Marie's face as she laid on the Inkling beneath her, pretending to still be asleep. "C'mon babe, time to get up."

Marie kept up her act. "I know you're awake Marie." but Marie continued to lay there. A small smirk made its way to the Inklings face as she slowly began to glide her hands gently around Marie's lower back and sides.

" Oh no whatever will I do? My lovely girlfriend is stuck in an eternal sleep from staying up all night playing video games." the Inkling said in a faux sad voice, making Marie giggle ever so slightly.

"Maybe a kiss will break the curse?" She said, causing Marie to purse her lips slightly in anticipation only to gasp In slight shock as she felt her rear get grabbed rather firmly.

"Or maybe is should take advantage and do some rather… _naughty_ things to her beautiful body… Hmm choices, choices." She whispered seductively in Marie's ear as she began to nibble lightly on the tip of said ear, Causing Marie to moan lightly "N-Naruko *whimper* s-stop teasing me, we.. We have to get u-u-up remember?" Marie said as Naruko continued to grope her plump rear. Naruko stared Marie in the eyes, Gold meeting Azure as she gently leaned up bringing her lips into contact with Marie's.

Marie's eyes widened for a second before she sank onto the kiss, her arms slowly locking themselves over Naruko's shoulders as Naruko pushed them both up and into a sitting position and further into the kiss. After what felt like an eternity they separated both of them blushing lightly, "Have I ever told you how much I love you." Marie smiled gently and rested her head on Naruko's shoulder "Every morning Naru."

"Well it's true Marie. I love you, and nothing will _ever_ change that. You… You have always been there for me, right from the very beginning. From when you found me terrified and alone near the old lake ten years ago, to after that mission where shit went to hell when we were only just starting out as Agents… What I'm trying to say is… I'm just so… So happy I met You, Callie and Gramps." Marie's smile faltered a bit as she buried her head in Naruko's shoulder.

As they were untangling themselves from each other the door to their shared bedroom was kicked open and a voice yelled out.

"Are you two up yet or what?"

"Yeah we are Callie. Also how the hell did you kick open the door?" Naruko asked _'The hell?'._ How the hell did she even kick the door open, it was locked.

"I don't know! Well anyway now I can go make waffles." Callie yelled out as she ran to the kitchen with a massive grin.

Naruko's eyes widened in horror at the thought of Callie attempting to make waffles. She shot up and out the door.

"CALLIE, NO!"

"CALLIE, YES!"

As this was happening Marie was lost in thought.

' _Is this really a good idea?'_ She thought to herself as she remembered the conversation she had a few weeks prior with Her's and Callie's manager.

 _(Mini Flashback)_

 _ **November 25th. 2015**_

 _(Marie's P.O.V)_

"So wait… You're saying I should break up with Naruko?" I asked in shock.

"Yes, I believe it would be the best course of action." Mine and Callie's manager confirms.

"But why!? Nothing in mine or Callie's contract states we can't be in a relationship." I yell, what the hell is she saying? Best course of action, what the hell!?

" *Sigh* Look Marie, think about your relationship with Naruko. It's not love you feel for her but pity, and I'm not saying this to be a-" I cut her of angrily.

"A what! A fucking bitch! And what the hell do you mean I don't love her I do!" Now I'm pissed, what the fuck does she mean by that. Of course I love Naruko.

"Do you really? Think about it from what I know about her is she relies on you, she has since the two of you met. And I don't know the circumstances but to honest with you what you're feeling is not love, it's you believing you have a responsibility to love her." She says in a matter of fact tone.

" I… What?" I stutter, not knowing how to answer.

"You feel as if you have to love her that it's your responsibility. Because you have always been there for her, you think that you have to also love her. And like I said it's not love…. It's pity." She says, I can't hold back enough is enough.

"I..I don't.. No I DO LOVE HER!" I scream, my eyes watering…I do love Naruko…I do.

" You don't Marie, and the sooner you come to realise that the better… Look this relationship is only going to hurt the both of you in the end, and something like that is something you and Callie can not afford, Please Marie I'm only trying to look out for you and your cousin… Just please think about it."

 _(Mini Flashback end)_

' _Is she right though? Do I really love Naruko?…or..or is it really just pity?'_ Marie thought as tears streamed down her cheeks, she had to make a decision… Either potentially ruin hers and Callie's careers…. Or shatter Naruko's heart.

' _I'm sorry… I'm so sorry.'_ Marie thought as she sobbed.

' _I hope you can forgive me… Even if I don't deserve it….. Naruko.'_

 **December 16th 2015** **( The day of the break up, thirty-five days before the Great Zapfish is taken.)**

 **(Squid Sisters apartment)**

 **6:45 pm**

"What?"

Naruko stared wide-eyed " Babe…. What did you just say?" She asked, hoping she heard wrong.

"I said…. I said I'm breaking up with you." Marie stated, refusing to look Naruko in the eyes. Callie looked upon the scene in shock from her seat _'What the hell. Where the hell did this come from!?'_ She thought in shock.

"Thi-this is a joke right? You're… You're just getting back at me for that prank I pulled on you last week….or….or because I sided with Callie in the last Splatfest *****...Right?" Naruko ended with a whisper. This…This can't be happening right? What did she do to cause this, everything was fine earlier today… WHAT THE HELL WENT WRONG.

Marie continued avoid eye contact with Naruko, the guilt of what she was going to do…What she was about to say was eating away at her.

"You're… You're not joking are you." Naruko said, her voice hollow….defeated.

"No Naruko… I'm not." Marie answered. She tried to push down the sick feeling in her stomach along with the excruciating guilt she felt. _' Why…. Why does this hurt so bad, I'm…. I'm doing the right thing. So why? Why does it feel like I'm being stabbed in the heart?'_

It hurt…..god why did it hurt so much, this is the right thing to do… This… This relationship is only going to hurt the both of them in the long run.

"Why?" Naruko asked, did she cause this? Did she do something to piss Marie off to such an extent that they were going to break up?

Marie did not answer.

"Why Marie! Please just tell me why!?" Naruko begged as tears began to fall from her eyes.

"IT'S BECAUSE I NEVER LOVED YOU!" Marie shouted, her eyes brimming with tears.

Naruko's eyes widened as she recoiled back in shock " Wha…What?"

Callie could only stare in shock at what she just heard Marie shout. _'WHAT! NONONONONO THAT CAN'T BE RIGHT!'._ What the hell was Marie saying, why would she even suggest such a thing?

"Over the last few weeks I've done a lot of….thinking about our relationship. I honestly thought it was love, but now…. Now when I think about it, it's not. All it was, was be believing I had a responsibility to love you." Marie said.

"All it was…. All it was, was pity." She finished, finally meeting Naruko's gaze. To her shock Naruko's eye's where not blue not fully… They flickered between blue and crimson, her face etched with a look of heartbreak…. Of betrayal.

Naruko slowly got up from the couch she was sitting on, her hands trembling as she made her way to the kitchen counter.

Both Callie and Marie's eyes followed her as she grabbed her Phone, wallet and keys and then made for the door.

Marie blocked everything out from that point as she watched Callie follow after Naruko, probably to ask her where she was going.

She got up from the couch and slowly walked to her room her face blank. Her eyes however showed a different story, Anguish, Guilt, Hurt. Ignoring Callie's angered shouting directed at her she continued to her room.

Once she entered her room she closed the door, locking it. Before collapsing to the floor. _'Oh god… What have I done?'_ Marie thought as she began to sob.

' _I'm sorry Naruko…. I'm sorry.'_

 _(This however was only the beginning, the die had been cast and now…. It was up to fate to decide if forgiveness could be had… But sadly this was only the first of Marie's bad choices. Her decision did not break Naruko, fractured yes but not however would come in the form of two events, a second 'betrayal' and and the inability to save innocents.)_

 _Flashback end_

* * *

"And well *sniff* that's how it began." Marie said as she looked downward, her tears dripping onto her hands.

The others where in various states of shock.

Four felt conflicted about what she had heard. Why would Marie believe her manager so easily? it made no sense.

Eight was….Well shocked to say the least, but didn't really know how to feel.

Marina however was _very_ conflicted, on one hand she felt is was not her place to judge and that she should listen to the rest of Marie's story, and on the other hand…. She was disgusted… Well shocked really not really disgusted… Or was she, damn it she didn't know. And to be honest she actually felt legitimately bad for Naruko, _'I never thought that Agent 0 went through such heartbreak… Is this why she is like she is?'_

And Pearl, she just scoffed and rolled her eyes " Oh so now you're playing the victim? Fucking typical."

"That is not my intent Pearl, and you know that." Marie said with a glare that was nowhere as intimidating as she thought.

" And besides what the hell would you know? You were not there so any so called 'knowledge' of what happened is second hand at best!"

Pearl stood from her seat with a look of fury on her face " I'm pretty sure since it came from Naruko it's all true you bitch. Or what are you calling her a liar now?" She spoke, her voice getting louder. Marie recoiled slightly but didn't back down.

"It doesn't change the fact that this never involved you Pearl so shut up and let me finish." Marie stated believing this would end the argument and she could get back to her side of the story. This however was not the case, if anything Pearl looked to be even angrier than before.

"Never involved me huh? Well guess fucking what Marie, it does."

Marie scoffed at Pearl and was about to retort but Pearl continued before she could get a word in.

"It involves me when my _best friend_ comes knocking on my door the night _you_ tore her heart to pieces, half drunk and in tears because she can't understand why the hell you said the shit that you did."

Marina got up and moved over to Pearl to calm her down, only for Pearl to ignore her and continue.

"It involves me when the Old Man had to call _Me,_ not _You or Callie_ but _Me._ After that fucking disaster at Facility H went down, to keep an eye on her and make sure she OK because what's this? You and Callie where to goddamn busy with organising a Splatfest. And before you say anything thing, even fucking Ekolu stayed with her when I had to leave for a while or when I had to go home to change clothes. Not that she had any obligation to back then."

Now Four and Eight were getting concerned now, if this continues they will probably wake the others up and that would NOT be a good idea...or Marie would end up unconscious again via an albeit smaller fist the the face.

"And on that note. Really? Fucking really? You two were debating which fucking _Pokemon game_ is better. Nice to fucking know that you two think a fucking game means more to you then your friends mental health."

Now Marie was getting frustrated, she wanted to just get this over with but no Pearl just had to keep going on, and on. It was exactly like she thought would happen and she knew Pearl was right. That made it hurt more than she would admit, but nothing could have prepared her for what Pearl said next.

"And you can bet your fucking ass it involves me when I get a phone call in the middle of the fucking night from a hysterical Ekolu, who was at the goddamn hospital in a panic because she couldn't get a hold of anyone else when NARUKO TRIED TO FUCKING KILL HERSELF!" Pearl exclaimed her eyes watering up slightly at the memory.

Marie recoiled harshly her eye widening in horror, the others had similar reactions but nowhere bad as Marie.

As Pearl was recomposing herself from her outburst she froze _'Fuck… I really should not have mentioned that last one.'_ oh well what's done is done, better she finds out now than later down the line. _'Though as much as I hate to admit it we probably should have told them a few months ago… It did happen a year ago after all…*sigh* shit.'_

"W-what did you just say?" Marie all but whispered.

"Hmm?" Pearl looked at Marie not really wanting to go into detail about the events that unfolded that night.

"What did you just say damn it!" Marie yelled as she grabbed Pearl, her eye wide with…..fear? Was it fear, maybe or perhaps guilt.

Pearl made no attempt to remove Marie, she only looked away "You heard what I said Marie…. She tried to kill herself."

"How? When? Why the fuck were Callie and I not told!?" Marie yelled as her hands gripped the smaller Inkling shoulders tightly.

"To answer in that order, I don't know, something involving cutting herself and bleach. It was about a year ago, sometime around March. And for the last one, why the fuck would we tell _you_ anything?" Pearl said, her voice laced with anger

"W-we? Who else knew?" Marie asked.

Pearl sighed "Me, Ekolu and…. And the Old Man." Marie's eye widened. _"Gramps knew?"_ She whispered, why… Why the hell weren't her and Callie told?

"Why?"

Pearl looked at Marie quizzically.

"Please…. Why were Callie and I not told….Please." Marie begged, her voice breaking. Pearl removed herself from Marie's grip. Taking a deep breath she answered.

"Because both Ekolu and the Old Man thought it was for the best…. Well it was more at Ekolu's suggestion, seeing as she primarily blamed you for it happening. And you know how Callie gets when she is worried so it was the smarter option." Pearl explained. Yeah this was going to start a fresh wave of issues, she just knew it.

" Wait hold up. Why does Ekolu blame Marie for what happened? I mean, I get that Naruko is pretty much her sister but it doesn't really make much sense to me." Four said, she was honestly rather confused about that piece of information. Why would Ekolu blame Marie? Aren't they friends?"

Both Eight and Marina nodded in agreement, Pearl went to explain but Marie beat her to it.

"It's because she's right to think like that." Marie said shocking the others "I've never really been the nicest person to Ekolu… Hell I treated her like shit for the first year of her being an agent. So to be honest she has every right to assume I'm the problem…. Hell I probably was."

Four looked at Marie in shock, she was always so nice to her so why did she treat Ekolu any different. Pearl however chose this moment to speak up. " That's an underestimate and a half Marie." She began as she sat back down.

"You shot her in the ass with a half charged shot from your Charger solely because she back sassed you one time and called you a bitch."

The others gave Marie an odd look, as if to say _really you shot her in the ass with a potentially deadly weapon for that?_

"Face it you have one hell of a jealous streak, I mean sure it was kinda funny watching Eko rolling around holding her butt after you shot it but come on. She was in her regular clothes not her Turf War/Agent gear, so it would of hurt like hell. And don't even get me started on the fact that you had only just turned eighteen and she was just sixteen, so yeah technically child abuse as well. "

Marie blushed in embarrassment at that, yeah she had a pretty bad jealous streak when it came to Naruko and the fact that she was always hanging around Ekolu…Yeah things got heated a fair few times.

"It wasn't funny Pearl, I couldn't sit properly for a damn week and a half after Marie decided to be a smart ass." a slightly agitated voice spoke from the entrance to the hallway. Everyone froze in place as they slow turned their heads to the hallway, only to see a now awake Ekolu looking back at them.

' _Oh crap.'_ was the collective thought of the other occupants of the room.

"Also you two are loud as fuck." Ekolu said with a yawn as she sent a flat look to both Pearl and Marie before looking at the clock on the wall. Much to her disappointment it read that it was only 12:45 causing her to make a kinda pitiful sound. "Awww man. I only slept for four and a half hours? Don't you idiots know what an inside voice is?" she said as she plopped down on next to Marie.

"Uhh...how much of this conversation did you hear?" Pearl asked hoping that she didn't hear her spilling the beans about what happened to Naruko. Ekolu however dashed that hope "Well you kinda woke me up when you started screaming at Marie about what happened between her and Naruko. So yeah I heard everything." She finished with an impassive look on her face.

"Ah by the way, don't worry about waking Naruko up with your yelling," Ekolu began causing Four and Marina to panic _'Oh god did they wake her?'_. If that was the case would they all get an ass whooping? Four and Marina began to eye the door.

"Yeah she's out like a light, you know how she is when she is dead tired. She sleeps like a log… Hell you could play some hardcore metal at full volume or have Pearl start singing next to her and it wouldn't wake her." Ekolu continued, getting sighs of relief from everyone and a small indignant _hey_ from Pearl… Eight sat there confused seeing as she had no idea why they were afraid.

"Well that's a relief." Marie sighed. Ekolu turned to Marie and gave her a slight smirk "What's wrong Marie, afraid of getting knocked out again?" She said.

"Well yeah. Getting punched across the face by someone who can hold and fire a Heavy Splatling with one arm, with the effectiveness of someone using a Splattershot Pro, kinda hurts." Marie retorted getting a little chuckle from both Ekolu and Pearl and looks of disbelief from Four, Eight and Marina.

"Ahh and Uhh before I forget." Ekolu began, getting everyone's attention "About last year…. When Naruko…. You know…had that _incident_." She continued before pausing for a moment.

"Look what I'm trying to say is….Is *sigh* I don't blame you for what happened…. At least not anymore, I get it I was being childish… I mean hell you didn't even know till today so… Yeah I'm sorry I was a bitch." Marie stayed silent at the apology.

"Wow ok. What brought this on Eko?" Pearl asked, as this was highly unusual for her… Hell only two months ago Ekolu was saying how she was going to kick the crap out of Marie because she was still being a bitch, and now she was saying she was sorry.

Ekolu looked at Pearl with a small smile " Well after nearly dying several times down in that weird lab that was connected to the Deepsea Metro, I really got to thinking…. That and Naruko insisted I talk things out with Marie, kinda hypocritical of her since she adamantly refuses to do just that herself. "

Pearl nodded her head, it made sense she guessed but wow she was not expecting this to happen anytime soon.

"You shouldn't be apologising to me Ekolu, if anything it should be the other way around." Marie said causing Ekolu to frown slightly. "I was such a bitch to you, and for no reason other then I was jealous that Naruko was spending more time with you than me and Callie… Not that I blame her after what I did." She finished sadly

"OK would you stop being a damn idiot for a moment." Ekolu said making Marie look at her questioningly

"All you do is wallow in self deprecation, shit it's all you have done for the last year. Let me ask you this how the hell do you think it makes Callie and Naruko feel when you act like this?" Ekolu began

"Yeah sure you were a bitch and a half to me and sure it was out of petty jealousy. But come on this is _not_ the Marie that Naruko, Callie and Pearl grew up with. No all I see is a weak little bitch who doesn't even have to courage to talk it out." She finished.

' _Oh damn, she is really giving it to her.'_ Pearl thought. Ekolu wasn't exactly wrong, Marie had sunk into a pit of self depreciation over the last year or so. Though to be honest it was kinda understandable, she _did_ break the heart of somebody she truly loved and then only a few weeks later blamed her for the Zapfish getting stolen. Suffice to say, Marie was in a pretty shitty place mentally

' _What next. They gonna hug it out or somethi-... Oh you gotta be kidding me?'_ Pearl thought as Marie, out of nowhere pulled Ekolu into a hug much to the younger girls surprise.

" _Do you honestly think I want to be like this… To be always hating myself._ " Marie whispered sadly as she held onto Ekolu tightly.

Ekolu tentatively returned the embrace "I want to change. I want things to go back to how they were in the past…. But how? I fucked up and instead of trying to fix my mistakes…. I made them worse." Marie said as tears fell from her eyes.

Ekolu sat there not knowing what to do, she genuinely wanted to help make things right between Naruko and Marie, but this was getting to be a bit much as she herself had only just begun to forgive Marie for her actions against herself… And now she was hugging her and asking her how can she fix things, yeah she had no clue on what or how to respond to this….that and there was something else adding to this discomfort, but she wasn't going to be rude and flat out say it.

Luckily… Or unluckily depending on your perspective, Eight had taken this moment to ask a question.

"I'm sorry for interrupting but…I have a question." Eight said curiously causing Marie to finally let go of Ekolu, much to the younger girls quiet relief. All eyes where now on Eight.

"What did Pearl mean when she said that you blamed Miss Naruko for the Zapfish incident?" Eight asked, causing Marie to look away in shame.

"I was meaning to ask that myself, I remember stories of an Inkling in a hooded black military-like outfit retrieving a handful of the smaller Zapfish before Agent 3 became a thing. So I'm kinda curious on how you came to the conclusion that Agent 0….sorry, Naruko was at fault?" Marina also asked.

Marie sighed " I have no excuse for my actions that day. Hell I could just blame it all on the stress from what happened a few weeks prior to the Zapfish incident but…. No I jumped to conclusions and paid the price for it."

Four tilted her head in confusion " Stress from a few weeks prior? You mean the break up?" She asked. Marie shook her head "No, something else."

"Like?" Eight asked innocently, causing Marie to let out another sigh. "I really don't want to talk about it, ok." She said, hoping they would drop it for now. Sure she would continue her story, but right now all she wanted to do was have a nap _' Who knew that staying up all night rescuing Callie from the Octarians then having to explain to a group of people one of the the worst days of my life would be so tiring.'_ Mariethought to herselfas she let out a small yawn.

" Hmm how about this." Marie began, "Let me get an hour or two of sleep, then I will continue where I left off. Is that ok with all of you?" She asked.

" Oh that's right." Marina exclaimed, " You and Four probably haven't had any sleep yet. You must be dead tired." Marie chuckled lightly _'You have no idea.'_ She thought as she let out another yawn.

"Well in any case, I should probably go check on Callie first before I have a nap." Marie said as she got up and made her way to Naruko's room, "Oh and umm, are you gonna be good Four? Or are you tired as well?" Marie asked before she exited the living room.

"Nah I'm fine, you go get some rest…you look like you could use it." Four answered, getting a nod from Marie.

* * *

 _ **(A short while later later)**_

The living room was now a lot more quiet, Eight had moved over to Ekolu who had turned the TV on and was playing a video game about a young boy fighting shadowy creatures with an oversized key and was now using her lap as a pillow whilst watching Ekolu play much to Ekolu's dismay( _hey she has a cute girl using her lap as a pillow, this socially awkward Inkling was damn near having an internal melt down_ ) , Pearl was rummaging through the fridge. Marina had followed Pearl to stop her from getting at the beer in the fridge but noticed some rather unique looking equipment on the table and was now 'inspecting' a unique looking Charger and dual kukri knives ***** that were on the left sitting on the kitchen table, and Four was curled up on the other couch asleep.

"This Charger is amazing,I've never seen anything like it before, hmm no ink intake tube odd. is it Naruko's personal weapon?" Marina asked Pearl who had decided to sit down next to her with yet another can of energy drink after pilfering Naruko's fridge yet again.

"Hmm? Oh that old thing." Pearl began as she took a sip of her drink, "Nah not really, She mainly uses up close to mid-range weapons like Shooters and stuff, from what I remember she only uses that beast of a Charger on infiltration jobs." Marina nodded, that made sense seeing as all of the footage she had seen of Naruko not once was she wielding a charger.

"It's called… Damn it what was it… Ummm….Oh that's right! Gae Bolg ***** , that's the name." Marina hummed in acknowledgement, as she picked up one of the kukri both of them had a black and gold grip, a rather interesting design choice. _'Where have I seen these before?'_ Marina thought to herself, these knives looked familiar…very familiar.

"The craftsmanship of these are amazing," Marina said as she twirled the blade in her hand "The blade is perfectly balanced, the grip is comfortable and not to heavy and despite the obvious signs of use the blade is perfectly maintained." She continued, getting an odd look from Pearl. "I can't shake the feeling that I've seen these knives before though… But where? I never actually fought Naruko…. But I'm sure I've seen these before." Marina exclaimed as she looked at Pearl.

"What's with the look?" Marina asked.

Pearl looked hesitant. "Well… it's about those knives…. " Pearl began, "I'm honestly surprised you are even touching them… You know." Marina was confused, why would Pearl be surprised at this?

"I don't follow?" Pearl took another sip of her drink seemingly ignoring what was said, Marina looked back down at the knife in her hand her eyes narrowed as she tried to remember when she had seen them before.

She gently ran her finger across the blade, however she did not realise just how sharp it was, "Ow." she had cut her finger on the curved edge of the blade.

"Hey watch the edge on that thing babe, it's sharp enough to cut metal ya know." Pearl said as she grabbed Marina's hand gently to look at the cut. Luckily it was relatively small and quite shallow.

' _They are sharp enough to cut metal? OK now I'm sure I-'_ Marina's eyes widened and her pupils shrunk slightly, _' Facility H…..'_ now she remembered…

 _(_ _Flashback)_

 _(Marina's POV)_

It was anarchy at HQ.

Octo-Weapons Facility H had went dark an hour ago, shortly after they had reported capturing an Inkling infiltrator.

"Specialist Ida, give me a status update on the facilities cameras." The captain of the Wasabi Replenishment Unit barked out.

"Yes Ma'am. The cameras should be back online in a moment." I said from my terminal, I had been specifically requested by DJ Octavio due to my expertise in tech to assist in bringing the surveillance system for Facility H back online.

"Good, we need to get eyes in the facility ASAP."

A few moments later success came.

"I'm in! Cameras coming back online ok, let's see what we…. have.. here… Oh God." I end in a whisper, my excitement ending abruptly in favour of horror.

"What is it girl!" DJ Octavio boomed.

However I couldn't answer, my mouth agape in horror all I could do was transfer the feed to the main screen.

The screen showed a very grisly sight.

Octolings laid dead, whether they were Scientists, Soldiers or even just technicians so many where dead.

The camera changed to another scene. A large room, dead Octolings everywhere… Blood everywhere.

This continued for a solid ten minutes, every camera was the same story… A bloodbath plain and simple, I couldn't take my eyes from the screen it was as if some kind of force was keeping me in place.

Until the last camera that is.

"Movement!" The Captain shouted.

A survivor!? Thank the gods.

"DJ Octavio, sir. Permission to send an evac team." The Captain asked.

DJ Octavio nodded "Granted Captain Luma, get any survivors out of there. We need to know what-" He was cut off

"Who's that!?"

"That's no Octoling."

"There's something in the shadows!"

The survivor, a young Octoling girl she looked no older than nineteen.. A fresh recruit from the looks of her gear, was holding her mouth in fear as she tried to stifle to sound of her sobs.

"Audio back online." one of the others said.

The Captain had already left with a squad to get the survivors out.

The Octolings girl recoiled in fear, as if looking at something off screen as she backed up slightly.

" **I see you."** a spine shivering demonic voice spoke before a bloody hand shot out of the shadows and grabbed the poor Octoling girl from behind, her eyes widened in fear as she let out a scream of terror as she was dragged into the dark.

"Oh god…." a voice next to me spoke, it was one of the older technicians.

"Captain, how far out are you from H." DJ Octavio spoke into the communicator.

"Ten minutes sir… Why? If I may ask."

"Be there in five…. The girl just got grabbed by… Something."

Just then movement yet again, the Octoling girl from before came limping out of the darkness as quick as she could. But now she was sporting several deep cuts.

"She's alive!"

"Run girl!"

"Oh god behind her!"

A figure emerged from the direction the Octoling girl came from.

It was a tall Inkling woman, she had long crimson, orange tipped hair ***** that reached down to her knees. She was clad in a black military style outfit that had silver clasps and chains along with some buttons of the same colour. On her left arm appeared to be a pelt of sorts it was a black-blue that faded into a pale blue-white colour and on her right where two long indigo ribbons that hung from her shoulder.

But rather stylish outfit aside the most notable factors where her eyes that where a demonic red…. And the fact that she was covered head to toe in blood…. Octoling blood.

In her hands where to large black and gold kukri knives.

"… **I'm coming for you~"**

The Inkling gave an almost…demented smirk before taking off in a sprint after the injured Octoling.

It did not take long for the Inkling to reach the fleeing Octoling, a split second at most and then the next thing they knew… It was over, one moment the Octoling girl was running for her life…. And the next she was on the ground headless. The Inkling… The **Wraith** stood over the corpse.

Shortly after Captain Luma and her unit breached the facility, they never returned.

 _(Flashback end)_

' _Oh god….. Oh God, I'm gonna be sick'_ Marina thought as she dropped the kukri and rushed to the bathroom.

"What the.. Babe, you ok?" Pearl asked as she followed after Marina. The sound of retching and dry heaving welcomed her as she saw Marina in an unpleasant position in front of the toilet.

Pearl winced at the sight, _'Well…that's not pretty.'_ She thought.

"Oh god…. I had them in my hands, those….those _filthy_ blades." Marina said as she got up and flushed the former contents of her stomach. She moved to the sink and turned on the hot water or she would have if Pearl hadn't grabbed her hands.

"Are you okay babe?" Pearl said as she stared at Marina with concern. Marina stopped for a moment before nodding, "I'm… I'm fine Pearlie, Just some… Bad memories is all."

Pearl didn't look convinced, "You mean Facility H right? I thought you said you weren't there…" Marina let out a small sigh.

"I wasn't… I was tasked personally by DJ Octavio to get the surveillance system back online during the incident," Marina began as she took a seat on the edge of the bath," We managed to get the systems back online an hour after Facility H went dark… I wish we never did." She finished.

"It couldn't have been that bad…right?" Pearl tentatively asked, Marina gave a rather concerning response… She laughed, it was a cold, hollow laugh that to be honest scared the absolute shit outta Pearl.

Marina looked Pearl dead in the eye " Not that bad you say…. Tell me Pearl, would you see rooms and hallways with blood splattered walls and dead bodies as not. that. bad?" Marina said in a slightly angered tone, causing Pearl to shiver slightly.

"You know what. I have an Idea, you see I saved the surveillance footage from the Facility…. Don't ask why but I did….. Would you like to see if it's that _bad?"_ Marina said as she pulled out her phone.

Pearl gulped, she hasn't seen Marina get like this in a while "Uhhh… Sure, I guess…" She said as she took the phone from Marina. Pearl winced slightly as the screen showed a particularly gruesome view of the main lab of the Facility, " Skip forward to 10:24." Marina said as she watched from the side.

Pearl looked at her quizzically " Uh okay?" she said in a questioning tone as she skipped to said point on the video.

Marina watched as Pearl's eyes widened and her face went a bit green at the scene playing out before her, of the Octoling girl that was killed by Naruko.

"O-ok…. It was bad." Pearl said, yeah she could have went without seeing that.

"Look babe, I don't want to come of like a broken record or as a bitch but trust me, she would have had a good reason to d-" Pearl tried to say but was cut off.

"I know…" Marina said quietly, causing Pearl to stare at her shocked.

"From what I have seen, and from what you and Marie have said… She…she doesn't seem like the kind of person that would just… Slaughter an entire facility worth if people for no good reason," Marina continued.

"But I have… I _need_ to hear it from her, why she did it, what caused it…. Though I do have a question for you Pearl." She said.

Pearl looked at her " Yeah?".

"You said that you had to keep an eye on her after what happened…..what would you say her mental condition was when she returned from the Facility?" Marina asked, getting a sad look from Pearl.

"To be honest with you babe," Pearl said, as she looked Marina in the eyes. "She was completely broken… It's like… It's like something sucked the life out of her. She had this empty gaze half the time…and the other half all you could see was guilt and self-hatred in her eye's….it hurt to see her like that." She continued.

"I see…so she had some form of regret for what happened then?" Pearl nodded, "Yeah, but from what I know about what set her off. It had something to do with her discovering that some kind of child experimentation was being done in Facility H. What kind I'm not sure, but whatever ever it was it set her off badly."

Marina's eyes widened in horror at that revelation, _'Experimenting on children!? No that can't be, Advisor Nymea would never let that happen… Would she?"_ She thought.

"Look babe, let's drop it for now…. I really don't wanna keep talking about it, let's just go back to the living room… It's kinda quiet." Pearl asked, she really hoped Marina would just drop the subject for now.

Luckily Marina agreed "Okay Pearlie, we'll stop for now," Marina said," Let me just clean my hands and wash this gross taste out of my mouth." Pearl nodded and afterwards they headed back to the living room.

 _ **(Naruko's room)**_

The room was rather big, It had a few cupboards and a large dresser with a small couch of to the left of the room as well as another similarly sized TV like the one in the living room and a large bed that looked like it could fit five people comfortably, other then that it was sparsely decorated other than a few photos of Naruko, Callie and Marie when they were younger and some photos of her with Ekolu.

It was quiet though the sound of soft breathing from Callie who was sleeping quietly on the bed and the sound of running water coming from the attached bathroom was all that could be heard.

"Ow..fuck." Marie said, as she stood in front of the sink while she gently examined her eye. Looking at herself in the mirror she couldn't help but felt slightly sick of what she saw.

She saw a pale, exhausted shell of an Inkling looking back at her, she had taken off her kimono and was now just waring what she had on underneath which was just a loose white shirt and a pair of green pyjama shorts.

Marie lifted the bottom of her shirt and gently poked her stomach, " *sigh* I really need to stop stress eating." She said to herself, it was a pretty bad habit she picked up over the last couple of months, when she got stressed she ate…usually something unhealthy to. Hell part of the reason she started wearing the kimono was she felt she had put on some weight and was embarrassed, the last thing she needed right now was gossip magazines or some smart ass on social media pointing that particular fact out. _'_ _ **Yeah you keep telling yourself that.'**_ a dark voice whispered in the back of her mind making her look down sadly.

' _Hmm maybe I could convince Four to jog with me in the mornings…. speaking of which did Four ever tell me her name?'_ Marie pondered, did Four ever tell her?

Marie shook her head and turned off the tap before returning to the room, she looked at the couch where she had haphazardly tossed her kimono. Picking it up she pondered on whether to put it back on, before a rather foul odour hit her nose.

Instinctively she looked at Callie, but she was still out cold. Marie looked down at the kimono in her hands with a grimace she tentatively brought the the clothing up to her nose, only to gag violently at the smell and toss said article of clothing back onto the couch.

' _Oh god, that smells fucking horrible, it's like B.O mixed with bad milk! When was the last time I washed this thing?'_ Marie thought as she suppressed the urge to vomit, then a realization came to her _' Wait if I'm only just noticing this now then…. Oh god I was walking around in this damn thing, that means everyone else could smell it. *sigh* And I give Ekolu shit about her hygiene,_ _damn she's right I_ _have let this go too far.'_ She thought as she laid down next to Callie on the bed.

What's next nightmares about what happened two years ago…. _'Greeeeat, way to go idiot you just jinxed yourself.'_ Marie thought with a deadpan expression as she slowly drifted of into a 'hopefully' peaceful nap.

* * *

 **Well there you have it, I hope it was worth the wait(probably not).**

 **So into some of the little things**

 ***1. Wraith mode is pretty much Naruko's tailed state, but the key difference is that when she was brought to this world Kurama died and was absorbed along with all of his chakra, sooo think of it as Yami Naruko coming out to play.(I will refine it more when it comes into the story properly.)**

 ***2 &3, The Charger is essentially a heavily modified Hero Charger that is a metallic purple and silver and it functions similar to the Javelin from Mass Effect 3, I.E the name Gae Bolg. **

**And the dual Kukris are literally Nyx Ulric's Kukris from FFXV.**

 **And on that note can you guess who Naruko's Agent gear in Marina's flashback(and yes that is going to be her Agent gear for the most part) is based off.**

 **Well that's a wrap, I'll see you all next chapter. Don't forget to leave a review to tell me what you think, see ya.**

 **Naruko:Wow she is still chasing him.**

 **Ekolu:Yep…should we help?**

 **Naruko:Hmm… maybe.**

 **Silvanium runs past screaming in terror, followed shortly after by Eight who now had a larger, rounder fruitcake.**

 **Silvanium:Heeeelp!**

 **Eight:IN YOUR BUUUTT!**

 **Both Naruko and Ekolu recoil.**

 **Ekolu:... I'm out.**

 **Naruko: Yep me to.**

 **Silvanium: See you all next chapter…oh god no, YOU WILL NOT VIOLATE MY BUTT YOU CRAZY OCTOLING.**

 **Silvanium flees into the distance.**


	5. Arc(1) In Crimson it Began

**Hey all, Silvanium here with a new chapter. Here we are folks outta the Prologue and into the meat of the story, I hope you all enjoy it.**

 **Pearl: About fucking time!**

 **Callie: Yeah! You promised two chapters back in January, AND NOW IT'S MARCH!**

 **Silvanium: Yes, yes I know…. But I got side tracked and I-**

 **Marie: Was trying and failing to platinum the Jak and Daxter series. You also scrapped the chapter three times because you felt that it was either to over the top or not enough detail… That and you forgot to save your work one of those times.**

 **Silvanium: Well… Err yes but also-**

 **Ekolu: You got KH3 and completely forgot about us so you could beat it and such…. Not that I blame you, that game is the tits…if a little on the short side.**

 **Silvanium: Umm…. Yes well….ok you got me, I'm sorry okay? But guess what…. I was actually working on the fic so don't worry, this chapter is gonna be great.**

 **Marie:...**

 **Pearl:...**

 **Callie:...**

 **Eight:... I'm getting the fruitcake again.**

 **Silvanium: No! I promise. It's good trust me….*sigh* anyway on with the show.**

* * *

 **(Arc 1)**

 **I** **n Crimson it Began**

 _ **Chapter 1: The Great Zapfish incident (The night it all changed)**_

 _Ah yes the past, the events that shaped our heroes into the…well heroes that they are today. These defining moments that made them who they are, whether it was a moment of joy…..or a moment of sorrow._

 _The very beginning….well that's a lie but close enough._

 _An innocent girl bloodying her hands to save another due to the incompetence of two others._

 _A friendship destroyed by mistakes and unjust anger._

 _A fractured heart shattering giving way to a bloodthirsty wraith._

 _These events, these moments of sorrow shaped these heroes. When sorrow gives way to hatred is it possible to love again? Or will the broken forever remain so…Only time will tell._

 **(** **Octo Valley)**

 **Cuttlefish Cabin**

 **Jan. 20th, 2016**

 **(Nine and a half hours after the Great Zapfish was taken)**

 **9:45AM**

' _I really fucked up this time.'_ Marie thought from her position on the ground as she watched Naruko limping towards the kettle that lead to the Canyon.

Next to Marie was Callie who was crying softly, _' It's bad enough that Naruko hates me… but now… now I've made her hate Callie as well.'_ Marie looked at her hand, at the blood on it. How could she do this… how could she say such things, Naruko was obviously injured when she arrived and yet what did she do?

She attacked her…. both verbally and physically out of petty anger, she and her cousin got called out for their fuck ups and she responded with this…

Off to the side was Cap'n Cuttlefish, Marie did not dare to make eye contact with her Grandfather. The disappointment… the sadness in his eyes hurt and it was all her fault.

' _God damn it! I'm such an idiot. Why? Why would I ever accuse Naruko of letting this happen? What the hell is wrong with me!'_

Why indeed…just what happened in the early hours of the morning, just what…

 _ **(8 hours earlier)**_

 **(Inkopolis industrial district)**

Rain was coming down pretty hard, it was all that could be heard in the in the industrial district. No one would even be near here for another four hours, it was the perfect time to initiate the plan… To steal the Zapfish, there was however a slight hiccup. An agent of the NSS* had stumbled across an infiltrator that was sent to scout out the locations of the smaller Zapfish, this encounter surprisingly did not end well for the obviously exhausted agent and she was swiftly disarmed and detained for interrogation.

 **(Under construction building)**

 **1:45am**

"MMPH." A muffled groan of pain escaped Naruko as the Octoling commando dragged her knife across her exposed torso leaving a deep cut.

Naruko was stripped of her gear(not that she was really wearing her proper set just her standard civilian clothes, seeing they had reading of possible(now confirmed) Octarian sightings in this part of Inkopolis) and left only in her black pants and matching sports bra as well as an impromptu cloth gag made from some cloth scrap that was laying about, her hands and feet were bound by duct tape and she herself was sat in a chair that had been lying about in the incomplete building.

"Awww. What's the matter, is the little Inkling in pain?" the Octoling mocked, only to receive a defiant glare from Naruko followed by several muffled curses.

"Hmm? What was that, you'll have to speak up dear." the Octoling said in a mocking tone.

"You know what. Imma take that gag of if you promise to be a good girl. Can ya do that?" She said, making Naruko glare at her.

The Octoling removed the I'm gag from Naruko's mouth, "There all bett-" the Commando was cut off by Naruko spitting on her face.

"You better fucking hope I don't get loose you fucking Octo-cunt, or I swear to fucking god I'm going to fucking choke the life out of you!" Naruko shouted extremely pissed off voice. The Octoling responded by harshly dragging her knife across the side of Naruko's neck, leaving a large deep cut, another of the many that now littered her body from the Interrogation(Torture).

"Argh!" Naruko gasped out in pain. Why the fuck did it burn when she cut her? _'Fuuuck, the hell did she coat that knife in?'_ Naruko thought in pain as she remembered seeing her fiddle with said knife before she began.

The Octoling followed up with a vicious right hook that knocked Naruko off of the chair and onto the cold stone floor, "That's what you get for disrespecting your betters Inkling." The Commando spat.

"Now, you sit tight. I need to make a very important call." She said in a condescending tone.

After she walked off Naruko quickly examined the room, looking towards the direction of where the Commando walked off to, to the left was a hand-held power saw that was left haphazardly laying on the ground by one of the construction workers, as well as a short length of power cable that had not been used laying nearby.

Naruko began crawling towards the saw, after a few moments of struggling she reached it and began to cut at the duct tape binding her hands.

' _Dumb bitch. Who the hell binds someone's hands in front of them and not behind their back? And with duct tape of all things, like hello zip-ties are a thing. '_ Naruko thought as she freed her hands and began to work on the duct tape binding her feet.

' _I hope the others got my distress beacon before this bitch broke my agent phone(like hell she was going to use her personal one) ...not that I'd be in this situation if Callie and Marie actually pulled their damn weight.'_ She thought bitterly as it had actually been both Callie and Marie's night to go on patrol, but they claimed to be doing something important leaving Naruko to pick up the slack again.

' _Something important my ass, who the hell decides to go and agree to host a charity live stream at the last minute? Yeah sure there was a few other musicians that were involved and yeah I get that people wanted them to, but come on! Three fucking weeks in a row they've pulled this shit and now look where it's got me, goddamn tortured by this idiot with a knife and unable to prevent whatever the Octarians have planned…. I fucking swear if they try to pin this on me, I'm gonna kick their fucking asses. To hell if I cause them shit at work.'_ Naruko ranted internally, as to her eye's fluctuated between blue and red.

Naruko could hear the Octoling in the other room conversing with someone, she hoped that the Commando was the only one as she was in no condition to fight a group.

Finally freeing her feet Naruko grabbed the length of cable of the ground and gently pushed herself to her feet. With some effort she limped towards the door the Octoling went through and positioned herself so she was hidden in the shadows, Naruko then proceeded to wind the cable around both of her hands leaving the middle taught.

Now she had to play the waiting game.

She didn't have to wait to long as only a few minutes later the Octoling came back into the room. Without any hesitation Naruko struck, She moved swiftly behind the Octoling and pulled the cable tightly around her neck catching the Commando by surprise.

"I told you that if I got free I'd choke the life out of you." Naruko said as she put her mouth close to the Octolings ear making her eyes go wide in fear as she struggled to break free, moments later the Octoling went limp.

Naruko checked for a pulse but found none, nodding at her work she let the Octolings body fall limply to the floor.

Naruko then quickly gave the body a search over, "Should I try and contact help?" Naruko pondered as she held the Octolings communications device. After a few moments of deliberating she decided against it as the Octarians would likely be listening in seeing as it is one of theirs, "I will however take that knife."

Naruko then made her way to the door, she held the knife in a reverse grip as she prepared herself for if there were any more Octarians. Much to her relief there were none, "Ah there's my stuff." she said with a slight smile as she limped over to the table.

Before continuing Naruko gave herself a quick checkover, wincing at some of the cuts that now littered her torso and arms she noted that most where not very deep, some however like the one on the left side of her neck, as well as the right side of her torso and the one she spied across her back where deeper and would likely leave scars, not that she really cared _' Hmph, Callie is going to freak out when she sees these. Also why the hell is my regeneration not kicking in?'_ Naruko thought as she shook her head, this was odd seeing as Inklings had a naturally occurring regenerative factor and the fact the hers was unnaturally strong made her a touch concerned that it was not kicking in.

Naruko froze _'Wait…the knife.'_

After examining the knife and finding nothing out of the ordinary Naruko "Hmm what if she…" She brought the knife up to her nose and inhaled, almost immediately she tore the knife away from her face. A potent chemical smell lingered on the knife it was weak but still strong enough to burn her nostrils slightly.

"God fucking damn it. Bleach!? Fucking bleach!? How goddamn cheap are those damn Octarians! What next? Fucking Splat-bombs filled with paint thinner?" Naruko ranted almost angrily. " *sigh* At least I found out why I'm not healing, this shits gonna leave some scars I bet."

After quickly redressing( putting her shirt and shoes back on…part of her really hoped that the impromptu gag she had forced into her mouth was not her socks….that would be gross) and making sure all of her stuff was still in her wallet Naruko then made her way out of the building, "God damn it is going to take forever to reach the plaza from here." Naruko groaned out. It was bad enough she had to walk it, that in itself would take three hours from the industrial district but also factoring in that it was raining heavily and that she was also wounded… Yeah it was going to take a while.

Taking a few steps forward Naruko stopped as a sharp burning pain shot through her upper body. Letting out a pained groan, she leant against the door of the building.

' _It really hurts to walk right now… I really hope I can at least get halfway to Central before the worst of the storm hits.'_

 **2:40am**

 **(Northpoint)**

"This storm is really beginning to piss me off now." Naruko growled out, the storm had gotten worse causing her to seek shelter at a bus station that was on the edge of Northpoint.

Now that she thought about it Inkopolis has really goddamn weird weather, it was still winter so shit was cold as fuck, but for some odd reason during winter it either snowed or rained….or in some rare and fucked up instances both…yeah Inkopolis was weird, all it did was make her wish she was back home in Calamari County at least the weather there was normal…most of the time.

' _Still don't know why this part of Inkopolis is called Northpoint, it's in the southwest part of the city. I can literally see the ocean from where I'm sitting as well …Or really I could if it wasn't raining so damn hard.'_ Naruko thought as she sipped her drink as she looked out towards what she assumed was the harbour.

Naruko was currently situated at a small bus station at the edge of the Industrial district and Northpoint, it was dry, well lit and had some vending machines so it was pretty much heaven at the moment… Though the restrooms looked kinda gross.

But to be completely honest, Naruko was not looking all that great either. She was still bleeding slightly from some of the deeper cuts and her clothes where quite bloody, enough for somebody to get the wrong idea… Or at least that is what she was picking up from the teenager that was sitting a few seats down from her.

A small smile made its way to Naruko's face as she watched the kid sneak glances at her. Naruko went to take another sip of her drink but noticed the can was empty, after getting up(with a slight amount of trouble) she tossed the can onto the nearby bin and limped over to the vending machines.

She bought two more cans of soda and moved back to her chair. As she reached her seat Naruko whistled loudly, making the Inkling girl jump slightly and look at her. Not even a moment later a can of soda was flying towards her face though luckily she grabbed it before it hit, though it was funny seeing her eyes widen like that.

Looking down at the beverage and than back to Naruko in confusion "What?" She asked confused. Naruko smiled as she sat back down, "You looked thirsty kid."

The girl muttered a small thank you before going quite again.

 **3:00am**

' _Still no sign of stopping… Greeeat.'_ Naruko though as she watched the rain. This was beyond a joke at this point, she already resigned herself to the fact that she had failed to stop whatever the Octarians had planned but being stuck at bus station in the worst part of Northpoint all while a bad storm was waging outside… yeah pretty shitty if she said so herself.

"God this is fucking ridiculous! When the hell is the rain gonna stop!?" Naruko shouted in frustration. It was really getting annoying now as she was still bleeding somewhat and her back was killing her.

"Do you….do you have somewhere you need to be?"

Naruko blinked in confusion before looking at the kid "Ahh so you can say more than two words." She said with a smile. The Kid(that's what Naruko was going to refer to her as seeing as she doesn't know her name) gave her a look "Well yeah…I..I just don't talk much…" She said shyly, making Naruko frown slightly "Hmmm. Well that's no good, you have a really cute voice."

The Kid blushed slightly…well really Naruko assumed she was as the girls hoodie hid most of her face, Naruko did however notice the younger girls eyes where a lovely shade of purple, She also noticed that the younger girls right eye was slightly closed but kept her thoughts to herself I mean what if she has conjunctivitis or something? Naruko wasn't gonna point it out and potentially make her feel embarrassed….that being said though, the girl was acting somewhat skittish.

"So...what brings a kid like you out to Northpoint at this time of night? You live around here?" Naruko asked as she observed The Kids body language, She noted that the girl seemed a little distressed and on edge but nothing to serious…perhaps.

"Oh...uh, I'm not local to the area. I live around Central just a few minutes from the Plaza, I…I was just out for a late night drive, just…had to get out of the house for a little. And I decided to stop in here to get out of the rain for a bit." She said.

Naruko noticed her tense up at the mention of her home, She wanted to bring it up but she decided to lighten the mood a little before she did. "Hmm fair enough….wait late night drive? You look like fifteen!"

The Kid giggled lightly "Yeah and? The legal age to obtain your licence in Inkopolis is fifteen, but most kids don't bother. " She explained, getting a nod from Naruko it was true that Inkopolis had some really weird laws," And as for a car. Well I just drive my dad's old Diamante*." The Kid said, her voice noticeably saddening at the mention of her father.

"What about you?" She asked inquisitively,

"What are you doing here…and looking like that?"

Naruko blanched how the hell was she going to explain this "Oh I was just uhh….. just passing through, and I got caught in the storm." Naruko answered, getting a flat look from The Kid.

"Yeah, but that doesn't explain why your bleeding all over the place, so what's the story with that?"

Naruko froze for a moment _'Shit uhhh, fuck think of something Naruko.'_ " Ah….that's a hard question… Ummm, classified?" Naruko answered weakly.

" _Oh my god! I'm a fucking idiot, that is so not believable. Fuuuuuuuuuuu-'_ Naruko's inner beration was halted by The Kid asking her a rather accusatory question.

"Are you one of those Agents that the rumours are about?" The Kid asked, causing Naruko's eyes to widen and her to choke on her drink _'Rumours!? What bloody rumours!'_.

"I uhh, I don't follow?" The Kid eyed her suspiciously.

"Well, during one of the Squid Sisters news segments Callie mentioned a rumour about these Agent's or something that are essentially like a group of people protecting Inkopolis, kinda funny because she had this 'Oh shit, did I just say that?' look on her face afterwards. And Marie looked like she was about to strangle her." The Kid explained.

' _FOR FUCKS SAKE! REALLY CALLIE!? YOU GODDAMN SCATTERBRAINED FUCK WIT! '_ Naruko raged in her head. Of course Callie would nearly compromise their whole operation, why the hell not. _' One more thing to worry about *sigh* I swear they are going to give either an aneurysm or a fucking heart attack from the stress they constantly put me through…not that they give a shit.'_ Naruko thought bitterly.

You see two weeks after the break up between Naruko and Marie, the Squid Sisters Manager had decided to 'inform' a couple of gossip websites/magazines of said break up. Suffice to say it painted Naruko in a pretty bad light, implying she was abusive and that she was an all round horrible person. All to boost the popularity of the Idol duo(something that made absolutely no damn sense in Naruko's opinion, how the fuck was her being apparently abusive going to boost their popularity?), not that they knew of the flat out slander their now former manager had fabricated for these websites/magazines of….well not at first, but when they found out they didn't actually do or say anything to refute that bitch's claims, well Callie tried to but only ended up fanning the flames…. But that was a story for another day.

"From the look on your face I'd say I hit the nail on the head." The Kid said, breaking Naruko from her thoughts. _'Fuck it. Callie's already somewhat compromised us, what's the worst that could happen? Besides I need to patch myself up and I may be able to ask The Kid for a ride.'_

With a long sigh Naruko answered, "Yep you got me." The Kid's eyes widened, or really her left eye did and her right did somewhat. "Wait what?" She did not expect that, if anything she expected the older Inkling to either deny it or just flat out laugh it off.

"What? Did you expect me to spin some bull shit about how that's ridiculous and that I was mugged or some shit?"

"Well….yeah kinda."

Naruko chuckled lightly "Well I guess it would be rude of me if I didn't introduce myself." Naruko said as she pushed herself to her feet.

"The names Agent 0. Nice to meet ya… " Naruko said with a light salute before faltering slightly, "*No..no that won't do….fuck it. My actual name is Naruko. " She said with an oddly comforting grin.

' _Wait a minute. Naruko? As in Naruko Uzumaki!?... Holy shit.'_ The Kid thought to herself, dumbfounded by that fact that THE Naruko Uzumaki was also one of those Agents.. Now that she thought about it, she did have that feeling that she had seen the older girl before but now it made sense. Controversy about her former relationship with Marie Cuttlefish aside, Naruko was a damn legend in the Turf War scene.

"Now then. seeing as I told you who I am, how about you drop the hood and tell me your name kiddo." She finished with a smile.

The younger Inkling froze for a moment _'Should I? She seems nice enough…and she doesn't look like she's lying about the whole 'agent' thing, and if she really is one of those agents then maybe she could….'_

The Kid stood from her seat.

"I guess it's only fair…" The Kid said as she lowered her hood.

She was young, definitely either fifteen or sixteen and had a somewhat pale complexion. Her Tenta-Hair* was a pretty much normal orange with the only unique thing about it being the slightly more reddish pigment, and was tied back into a messy ponytail like style. It was evident that the girl was a bit on edge…the most likely reason for this was the fresh looking black eye she was sporting on her right eye, and from the size and shape of the bruise it was definitely from someone bigger(and likely older) than her.

Naruko had suspected that was why her eye was half closed. With her obvious edge to her voice and the fact that she was constantly looking towards the door to the bus station every few minutes showed that she was concerned the person that gave her that black eye was gonna show up.

'Ahem'

The Kid cleared her throat snapping Naruko back to reality. After a quick apology which she just shrugged and said it was fine, The Kid continued.

"As I was saying. It's nice to meet you Naruko, my names Ekolu." The Kid…. Ekolu said with a smile.

"Awesome….. Hey can I ask you a big favour?"

Why didn't Ekolu like where this was going.

 **(Ten minutes later)**

After a few minutes of negotiating Naruko( Borderline begging actually… not that Naruko would ever admit that.)convinced Ekolu to give her a lift to an apartment that she owned, Naruko was smart enough to save up her money(unlike a certain Inkling that shall not be named…*cough Callie cough*) from when she dabbled in the professional Turf league as well as whatever miscellaneous cash she got on the job as payment(most cases she declined pay because it was the Cap'n who was paying her, but most of the time he somehow seemed to slip it into her wallet… which was weird because it was always in her pocket.), so she had decided to by a few cheap apartments across Inkopolis to use as impromptu safe houses. You know AFTER they were renovated and shit…lets just say there was a very good reason why she got these places for cheap and leave it at that.

Hell if anything she could have just asked Pearl to buy them for said reason alone, but the last time Pearl bought something for Naruko she asked her to act as security for one of her shows with her Death Metal band to pay her back…suffice to say after Naruko punched out the drummer for an undisclosed reason and also intercepted a glass bottle that was thrown at Pearl and then proceed to peg it back at the one who threw it knocking the poor idiot out as well as getting dragged into then completely destroying a mosh pit, she was banned from ever doing security again. So seeing as she had to go through all that just because Pearl paid for lunch one time she did _not_ want to even think of what she would have to do if she asked for her to pay for a couple of cheap apartments. Oddly enough though Pearl had helped her with the renovating, who knew the small Inkling had a knack for it.

"Ok take the third left and then it's the second right turn and then we're there." Naruko directed from the passenger seat.

Ekolu nodded and followed her instructions, being mindful of the fact that it was _still_ raining pretty damn hard.

"Hey uh thanks again for the lift…and sorry about the blood."

"It's fine. I wasn't about to leave you out in the in the rain, especially after you decided to tell me who you are…also do you know how to get blood out of a car seat?"

Naruko gave her a blank look "No clue. I've never had to clean blood off of a car seat, tiles yes, wood also yes, but fabric? fuck that, way to much hassle."

Great another problem for Ekolu to deal with, what next? Is she going to see someone get killed?

"Pull over." Ekolu snapped out of her thoughts, "W-what? we're literally around the corner and-"

"We're being tailed, pull the damn car over."

Ekolu did as she was told, her eyes widening in a mixture of both shock and fear _'Oh fuck, oh shit I'm gonna die I'm gonna-'_ her thoughts were interrupted by a hand gently grasping her shoulder making her jump slightly. Ekolu looked at Naruko who gave her a reassuring smile, "Keep calm and leave it to me. It's probably nothing….but if it is I want you to get the hell outta here okay."

"W-what? No! I can't do that I-"

"This isn't your fight kid…please, promise me you will get out of here if things get dicey."

"I..I…"

Naruko sighed lightly before pulling an odd looking rectangular object out of her pocket

"Look, if your gonna stay here then at least take this," Naruko said as she held out the metal rectangle thing "Use it only if necessary...Okay?". Ekolu gave Naruko a blank look," It's a metal rectangle…" She said.

Naruko rolled her eyes before pressing a small button of the object, causing it to morph into a shape oddly similar to an N-Zap'89 but smaller and in black and lime-green instead of the grayish white and orange….and the fact it was made of metal and not the standard dense plastic that most Turf War equipment was made of also set it apart.

"This is a 'High Pressure Shooter'* or a 'HPS' for short. Imagine what the Police use but much more lethal. Its pre-loaded with a standard issue twenty-five shot ink cartridge*, so no ink tank is required." Naruko explained.

Ekolu stared at the weapon with slight fascination and no small amount of concern, "Why exactly are you giving me this?" She asked.

"Because I'm about to hop out of the car and head for that alleyway," Naruko began " Knowing how the Octarians work, the one that is waiting will follow. I'm gonna try and get the jump on them and the reason I gave you that HPS is just incase they come for you, so if you don't see me come out of the alley in about five minutes or if you see the person that follows me in come out first you get the fuck outta here. Got it?" Naruko finished as she took her seat belt off.

Ekolu nodded. It's not like she really had a choice in the matter.

"Oh…before I forget," Naruko said as she pulled out her wallet, " If I don't come back and if you get out safely….please…ring this number and tell the Cap'n what happened….okay." She continued as she took a card out of her wallet and handed it the younger Inkling.

Taking a deep breath Naruko opened the car door "Show time." She said under her breath as she exited the car and made her way to the alleyway, and as expected the Octoling that was tailing them followed shortly after. As Naruko continued down the thankfully lit alley she slowly removed the knife from earlier from the front of her pants.

And not a moment to soon for only a few seconds later the Octoling struck, but Naruko wasn't stupid. She narrowly avoided the rather sloppy strike and struck back with the knife, cutting her assailant across their arm, "Agh! You fucking bitch. Cutting someone with their own knife?! Fuck you!"

Naruko froze "Oh you have got to be fucking with me?" how the fuck was this bitch still alive? She had strangled her to death with a cable, fuck she checked her pulse after the deed was done and felt nothing, so how the fuck was she still breathing!?

"Aww what's the matter sweetie. Didja think I was dead?" The Octoling asked in a condescending tone "I have to admit, using a cable was pretty clever. But you really should have double checked to see if I wasn't just faking. You know how easy it is for an Octoling to stop their heart from beating for a few moments."

With a surprising bust of speed the Octoling barraged Naruko with a flurry of accurate punches which Naruko struggled to block in her wounded state. All of which hit exactly where she had cut Naruko earlier.

Naruko gave a pained gasp as her wounds reopened, the Octoling followed up by delivering a vicious uppercut that Naruko barely avoided before striking at the Octoling with the knife, cutting her across the cheek.

"Agh! That's fucking it!" The Octoling yelled out as she tackled Naruko knocking the knife out her hand. The Octoling proceeded to viciously punch Naruko in the face.

After a few moments the Octoling stopped to catch her breath, and much to her anger the only damage that she seemed to inflict on Naruko's face was a bloody nose and a split lip. She looked around for something to beat Naruko with, her eyes quickly fell upon the unintentionally discarded knife. While Naruko was still dazed the Octoling reached over and grabbed the knife, smirking the Octoling taunted Naruko.

"I guess this is it for you. Don't worry I'll make it nice. and. quick!" She exclaimed as she brought the knife down on Naruko's chest. However before the knife struck its mark, Naruko grabbed her wrist and attempted to push the knife away with what little strength she had left in her arms.

Naruko winced as the tip of the knife slowly pierced her flesh as her grip on the Octolings hand was slowly losing strength. _'Fuck. This is it isn't it…god fucking damn it, this never would have happened if those two fucking bitches actually decided to to take this patrol…I goddamn swear if I somehow make it out of this I'm gonna-'_

"H-hey! G-get off H-her!" A shaky voice shouted from behind them. Naruko's eyes widened _'No…NO! KID WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING? GET OUTTA HERE!'_

"Oho what's this?" The Octoling said in a mocking way as she looked behind herself "I didn't know the NSS had more then three agents…hmm I guess they must be getting desperate if they brought a kid like you into the fold." She mocked as she got of Naruko and stood up completely.

"Well, well lookie here. I thought it was only Agent 0 through 2 but I guess that must make you Agent 3?"

"Y-yeah that's r-right! S-so back off or I'll m-mess you up!" Ekolu bluffed. Who was she kidding, she was just a fifteen year old kid that was absolutely scared shitless and the the Octoling knew it.

' _Heh this is gonna be to easy.'_ The Octoling thought to herself as she looked at the shaking girl..or more really she looked at what appeared to be a modified N-Zap'89' the girl was pointing at her in her shaky grip.

"You do know that Low Pressure Turf War 'Weapons' don't work so well in the rain. Well kiddo?" The Octoling said as she advanced Ekolu, only to stop when a hand grasped her by the ankle, "Leave…her..alone." Naruko groaned out as she held onto the Octolings leg.

The Octoling rolled her eyes before shaking Naruko off and then following up with a brutal stomp on her arm, "Did I say you could touch me filth?"

"Now then…where was I?" The Octoling said as she twirled the knife in her hand. Ekolu took a few steps back in fear but kept the HPS trained on the Octoling, albeit with a very shaky grasp.

A crazed look made its way to the Octolings face as she rushed Ekolu. Eyes wide with fear Ekolu pulled the trigger.

*Crack* _ *****_

The Octoling stumbled back. Her eyes wide in both shock and pain.

*Crack* *Crack*

The Octoling died before she hit the ground. And that was it…the only sound that could be heard was the rain.

' _Oh god I..I… Oh god.'_ Ekolu thought as she stared at the now dead Octoling before her, the HPS slipping from her hands.

Naruko struggled to push herself to her feet and made her way over to the younger girl, "Hey…hey Ekolu, look at me." The younger Inkling didn't respond, she continued to stare at the now dead Octoling in front of them.

"Kid don't look at her. Look at me, don't look at her." Naruko said as she gently grasping both sides of Ekolu's face and forced her to make eye contact.

It broke Naruko's heart to see this innocent girl with such a destroyed look. The younger girls eyes where brimming with tears and a few trembling sobs made their way past her lips. Naruko did the only thing she could think to do, she pulled the younger girl into a tight embrace.

That seemed to be the straw that broke the camel's back as almost immediately Ekolu latched onto her and began to cry fiercely into Naruko's chest.

Naruko held the young Inkling tightly, a few tears making their way down her face _'This isn't right…god fucking damn it she's just a kid, she shouldn't have to go through this shit.'_ Naruko's eyes narrowed, _'This never would have happened if those two fucking selfish bitches actually did their goddamn job for once. I don't give a fuck if their busy 'Idols' they have no fucking excuse!'_ Naruko raged in her mind, her eyes slowly bleeding into a deep crimson.

(A night of pain, a night of connections. Two souls met this fated night. A child now scared from a moment of heroism, and a young woman hurt by the ones she loved.

Two souls that in time….would forge a bond of sisterhood, a bond stronger than steel. Many a trial laid ahead for the two of them, many a challenge that would shape them into the legends they are.)

* * *

 **(Outer-Central)**

 **Naruko's safe house/old apartment**

 **8:00am**

It has been a few hours since the incident in the alleyway. Naruko had decided to change plans slightly and drove herself and Ekolu to a more secure apartment/safe house, This one was only a twenty minute walk from the plaza and was more better supplied and furnished.

It was a reasonably sized apartment, having two bedrooms, a bathroom, a large living room with a connected kitchen and some light furnishings such as a decent sized TV and a comfortable looking couch. All in all it was a cozy place. And luckily enough for Naruko it was where she ended staying the night before so her phone was now on hand.

Naruko sighed sadly as she watched the younger Inkling sleep on the couch, Ekolu had cried herself to sleep on the drive here so Naruko had to carry her to the apartment but she didn't mind. The Kid needed all the rest she could get after that traumatic experience only a few short hours ago.

And as for Naruko herself? Well to put it kindly, she has seen better days. For the most part the smaller, shallower cuts had pretty much healed but the deeper one's such as the one across her back, the side of her neck and the right side of her stomach to across her ribs where still unhealed due to how deep they where, and the fact that the knife was laced with bleach only made thing worse.

Letting out another sigh Naruko looked down at the piece of paper in her hand.

Naruko had writ up a note for Ekolu, explaining where they were and such. But she didn't really want to leave the very likely to be traumatised girl to wake up alone, looking at the clock Naruko noted that it was still early and if anything she could probably linger for another hour or so before she _had_ to head for the Valley.

On one hand she could leave now and get to the Valley before Callie and Marie or she could wait for another hour incase Ekolu woke up in a panic.

After a moment of thinking Naruko decided on the latter. She sat at the end of the couch that Ekolu was sleeping on and turned the TV on and much to her annoyance The Squid Sisters morning news segment was on _'Greeeeat….well at least I don't have to sit through all of it.'_ Naruko thought sarcastically, noting that it seemed to be at the end of the segment.

 **Callie:** _News flash! News flash!_

 **Marie:** _What is it? What is it?!_

 **Callie:** _Inkopolis's Great Zapfish has... vanished!_

Naruko's eyes widened ' _Oh shit… '_

 **Marie:** _Wait, seriously?_

 **Callie:** _If it isn't recovered soon, are we gonna lose power?_

 **Marie:** _Oh, I'm sure it'll be fine... probably._

 **Callie:** _I wonder if it has anything to do with that UFO crash!_

 **Marie:** _Sounds likely to me!_

 **Callie:** _Well, that's all for now! Until next time…_

 **Callie &Marie:** _Staaaay fresh!_

"Well shit." That was all Naruko could think to say, yeah she could tell this was not going to end well when she met up with the others later.

"That sounds about right." A groggy voice said from next to Naruko causing her to jump slightly. Ekolu looked at Naruko "So did last night really happen? Did I…." Naruko nodded, unable to meet the younger girls gaze.

"How are you feeling?" What a dumb question, Naruko berated herself _'God damn it Naruko how do you think she feels.'_

"I..I dunno. Kinda numb I guess," Ekolu answered unsure on how exactly she was feeling." Also kinda hungry…" She said as her stomach growled much to her embarrassment making Naruko chuckle.

"How about I whip us up something to eat?"

 **8:30am**

After a filling breakfast of bacon, eggs and pancakes. Naruko was sitting at the table looking through news reports on the Zapfish's disappearance, all of it was the same story over and over again.

Closing the news app on her phone Naruko looked over to Ekolu who was curled up on the couch hugging a Zapfish plushie lightly while watching some TV. A pang of guilt hit Naruko at the sight, this kids life would never be the same now. She has unintentionally dragged this poor girl into this mess, _' No…no if anyone is to blame its Callie and Marie. This never would have happened if they didn't ditch on the patrol, hell they probably would have taken out that Octoling easily seeing as they aren't running on only four hours of sleep this week.'._

To be completely honest Naruko just wanted to go to bed but she knew she couldn't, the Great Zapfish wouldn't save itself and both Callie and Marie wouldn't do it because they are to 'busy'.

"You have to leave soon…don't you?"

Naruko snapped out of her thoughts, she looked across the table and saw that Ekolu had sat across from her.

"Yeah…gotta go to HQ and report what happened last night. And after that plan on how we are going to get the Zapfish back." Naruko explained.

Ekolu looked down dejectedly "Okay…just say when and I'll grab my stuff.". Naruko chuckled lightly "Nah don't worry about it." She said as she tossed Ekolu a key.

Ekolu looked at her confused,"Stay here as long as you want. Hell move in if you want to, it's not like I live here I just own the apartment." Naruko said with a smile.

"What?" Ekolu was baffled was Naruko being serious right now?

"Think of it as…think of it as part of my apology for getting you dragged into this shit, and well…."

"Well?"

Naruko sighed "I'd be a pretty shitty person and NSS Agent if I made you go back home to whoever gave you that black eye."

Ekolu recoiled slightly before recomposing herself "No idea what you're talking about. Got the black eye in a fight yesterday." She lied.

Naruko rolled her eyes "Kid I ain't stupid, it's written all over you. From your body language to the edge in your voice when you mentioned your home last night. And seeing as you talked about your dad in past tense I can assume he is no longer around, so I'm gonna take a shot in the dark here and say that your mum gave you that."

Ekolu froze stiff, her eyes wide and mouth slightly agape _'How did she….was I really that obvious?'_

"Look if you don't wanna talk about it I get it. I'm not gonna pry."

Ekolu shook her head "No..no it's okay I.. I just didn't expect you to put it all together."

"But yeah…my _mother_ did this," Ekolu pointed at the bruise.

Naruko frowned lightly "Then that settles it. Stay here for a few days if you want, I'm not fussed. Ahh also here's my contact information." Naruko said as she wrote her number down.

Ekolu grabbed her own phone to give Naruko her number but stopped "Uh..Naruko,"

"Hmm?"

"It's 9:15"

Naruko's eyes widened "Oh shit I gotta go!" She shouted as she shot up from her chair and towards the door.

"So yeah like I said. Stay here as long as you want. Oh and if a small, loud girl turns up that's just Pearl. She a friend and she probably will turn up seeing as she left her 3ds and laptop here yesterday if she asks just tell her what I told you." Naruko explained.

"Quick question, not that I will but isn't it a little bit stupid trusting a stranger with one of your apartments and to not think I'm gonna steal your stuff?" Ekolu asked sceptically

Naruko shrugged "Well yeah, but I can tell you're not the kind of person that would do that. Besides if you did do you really think I won't have some form of way to track you down?"

Ekolu nodded her head it did somewhat make sense "Well I gotta go, see ya later." Naruko said as she left the apartment.

Man she was not looking forward to the shit storm she was about to walk into.

 **(Octo Valley) *** **I'm not that good at describing things as you already know so imagine the main hub being about 3x larger and with more greenery and the cabin isn't a literal shack but a small…well cabin***

 **Cuttlefish Cabin**

 **9:35am**

"Any word from Naruko yet?" Callie asked, it had been about an hour and a half since they publicly reported that the Great Zapfish had gone missing. She had honestly expected Naruko to have beaten them here and already be working on a plan to get the Zapfish back, but she was nowhere to be found and it was really starting to concern Callie.

"None so far…" Marie responded, _'I swear if she let this happen just because of that goddamn bullshit two weeks ago…'_ She continued in her mind. On one hand Marie did not believe Naruko would ever let this happen, but on the other less rational hand she honestly felt that she did. And sadly the less rational side was overshadowing the the more rational side, mainly due to her anger at being called out and embarrassed a week ago about the flat out slander against Naruko that she didn't speak out against.

Let's just say, it was quite the spectacle. Yes she should have denied the claims made by her and Callie's former Manager and yes maybe she should have sat down with Naruko to talk it out after their break up.

But did Naruko have to call her out publicly _after_ it was proven the information about Naruko being abusive in their relationship was false? No, no she did not but what did she do? Just that! In Her opinion Naruko was just being petty at that point, and Pearl didn't need to get involved but lo and behold she did just that.

Yeah suffice to say, she was mad. And Callie could tell just by looking at her _' I really, really hope she doesn't do anything she will regret.'_

While this was beginning to boil over, the Cap'n was in the cabin's kitchen putting together some snacks for himself and the girls. Completely oblivious to the coming shit storm.

About a minute or two later a loud *Thump* was heard outside. And almost immediately Marie was out the door, _'Huh..I guess Marie was just as concerned as I was-'_

" _YOU FUCKING BITCH!"_

A look of panic made its way the Callie's face _'Or not.'_

Callie rushed outside to try and calm Marie down.

"And just what exactly do you mean by that Marie?" Naruko asked calmly, this only seemed to piss Marie off even more.

"You were patrolling last night, so please. Explain how the GODDAMN ZAPFISH WERE STOLEN ON YOUR WATCH!"

Naruko looked agitated at the mention of last night "Funny, because I remember it was both You and Callie's shift last night. But oh what's this? You two dumped it on me. _Again!_ "

Marie scoffed "Typical of you to toss the blame onto others."

At this point The Cap'n had come out to see what all of the fuss was about.

"Marie. Shit give her a minute to explain would you!" Callie shouted but was ignored.

"And you know what Marie. If you want to talk about pushing shit onto others then let's talk about how You and Callie keep putting off your agent duties. When was the last time you two actually did something other than your oh so precious music careers, those rubbish news segments or Splatfests?" Naruko spat venomously.

"Heh. Maybe if you _actually had a job_ you'd know it's hard to balance these things." Marie shot back.

"Oh? And please do tell, how the fuck am I supposed to find a fucking job if you two are constantly pushing your agent duties onto me!?" Naruko was getting pretty pissed by this point, "And on that note. I had no fucking idea the Zapfish had been stolen until this morning, so tell me. HOW THE FUCK IS IT MY FAULT! WELL!? FUCKING TELL ME!? YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT WENT DOWN LAST NIGHT, SO DON'T YOU FUCKING JUDGE ME YOU USELESS PIECE OF SHIT!" Naruko shouted at Marie.

"Unlike You and Callie, I actually take this agent shit seriously and I-" Naruko was cut of by a burning pain on her side, looking down she saw Marie's fist pushing into the now open and bleeding wound she received earlier.

Naruko stumbled back slightly before falling to her knees while clutching her side, Her eyes wide with pain.

' _Hmph, please I didn't even hit her that hard."_ Marie thought to herself, now Naruko was just being childish. Acting like she was seriously hurt. What a load of-

"M-Marie." She heard Callie whimper from of to the side " Y-your hand…".

' _My..hand? What's wrong with my…'_ Marie thought was she looked down at her left hand. Her eyes widened _'B-blood?'_

And just like that the anger…the rage that clouded her mind gave way to horror at the realisation that Naruko may have been possibly seriously injured… _'And I just..attacked like that. What the fuck is wrong with me! WHY THE HELL DID I DO THIS!?'_

Marie tore her gaze from her hand and looked at Naruko who was slumped over slightly while still clutching her side, blood was seeping between her fingers.

The Cap'n had moved forward to stop the situation from spiralling further out of hand…sadly he never got the opportunity, what happened next…changed everything.

 **(Naruko P.O.V)**

' _Argh. God fucking damn it! It was bad enough the damn wound reopened when I shifted back from squid form, but now this!?'_ I thought in agony.

' _ **H..t...r**_ _'_ A muffled voice whispered in my head _'W-what?'_

' _ **Br..k.H.r**_ _'_ The voice again, but this time I could hear it a little better _'Great now I'm hearing voices in my head.'_

' _ **D..tr.y Her.'**_

After a few moments the voice stopped and I was alone in my thoughts again. But then a sharp pain shot through my head causing me to slump over.

' _ **Hurt Her.'**_

' _ **Break Her'**_

' _ **Destroy Her'**_

My eyes widened

' _ **Hurt her Break her Destroy her hurtherbreakherdestroyher!'**_

The voice got louder, and the pain grew.

' _ **HURT HER! BREAK HER! DESTROY HER!**_

And then nothingness….

' _ **Don't worry, I won't hurt her…..to much~'**_

 **(Normal P.O.V)**

"S **o...T** h **at'** s h **ow y** ou **wa** nt **to play?** " A partially distorted voice spoke.

Marie stepped back slightly at the voice "N-Naruko?"

" **H** eh **ehe**.."

Naruko's head shot up, her eyes a deep crimson. Marie recoiled in slight fear as Naruko's gaze made her feel like a small cornered animal that was about to be devoured by a bigger nastier animal.

"N-Naruko I'm so-" She didn't get the chance to finish, Naruko shot up from her position and slugged Marie across the face, to which she followed up with a vicious headbutt and another punch to her face before finishing with a powerful kick to the stomach, knocking Marie off of her feet and onto her ass in a matter of mere seconds.

Naruko's assault would have continued if not for Callie putting herself between Naruko and Marie.

"Stop! Please Naruko, just stop!" Callie begged. Naruko sneered at Callie " **O** h? **An** d wh **y t** h **e he** ll s **hou** ld I?"

"Because….because."

" **Be** cau **se what?"** Naruko goaded.

"Because you know she didn't mean it! She's just angry and you doing this isn't helping! So stop being a childish bitch and-" Callie's eyes widened as she covered her mouth.

" **O** h **o. A** c **hildish bitch am I?"** Naruko growled out, her voice now sounding completely distorted.

"W-wait I d-didn't mean to say- ***Agh*** " Callie was cut off by a brutal punch to the gut completely knocking the wind out of her as well as make her cough up a little blood. And with a light shove she fell to the ground next to Marie.

" **You wanna know what I hate most about you two."** Naruko questioned.

" **Everything. I had honestly hoped you were different Callie. But no, like always you rush to defend your bitch of a cousin, like always you take her side without knowing the full extent of what happened….I hate you two so fucking much."** Naruko continued, Callie curled up slightly and cried from both the pain and Naruko's words.

"Kiddo…Naruko this isn't you. Please snap out of it." The Cap'n said as he slowly made his way over to his granddaughters "I know you are angry. You have every right to be, but this is not you. This is not the young girl I took in ten years ago."

Naruko looked over to the Cap'n…to her grandfather sadly " **That girl died last nigh** t **when an innocent** kid had to take a life to save her."

"What?" The Cap'n said in shock.

Naruko explained the events that occurred the night prior, from her torture…all the way to the events that took place in the alleyway in Northpoint. Not a single detail was left out.

"My god." The Cap'n murmured.

Both Callie and Marie where in tears, they had done this. If they didn't keep pushing their patrols onto Naruko this wouldn't have happened.

"I will never forgive either of you two for this." Naruko said as she limped towards the kettle that lead to the Canyon.

' _I really fucked up this time.'_ Marie thought from her position on the ground as she watched Naruko limpingaway.

Next to Marie was Callie who was crying softly, _' It's bad enough that Naruko hates me… but now… now I've made her hate Callie as well….not only that but that poor girl as well…what have I done.'_ Marie looked at her hand, at the blood on it. How could she do this… how could she say such things, Naruko was obviously injured when she arrived and yet what did she do?

She attacked her…. both verbally and physically out of petty anger, She and Callie got called out for their fuck ups and she responded with this…

And what happened in return?

She got knocked on her ass and had the absolute shit kicked out of her as a result, she could feel the bruise forming on her left eye and she could taste blood. And if that wasn't bad enough, Callie had gotten caught in the crossfire while trying to diffuse the situation. One moment Callie was standing between her and Naruko, trying her hardest to diffuse the situation and then next moment she was on the ground gasping for air after Naruko gave her a vicious punch to the ribs after she unintentionally made things worse, hell Marie was sure that if they had bones Callie would have several cracked or broken ribs from how hard the punch was.

Off to the side was the Cap'n…their grandfather, Marie did not dare to make eye contact with her Grandfather. The disappointment… the sadness in his eyes hurt and it was all her fault.

' _God damn it! I'm such an idiot. Why? Why would I ever accuse Naruko of letting this happen? What the hell is wrong with me!?'_

Sadly that was a question that would remain unanswered.

The next few weeks did not look to bright for the Squid Sisters, now they both had to deal with the guilt of destroying what remained of their friendship with Naruko as well as the media shit storm about why they look like they had their asses kicked.

And Naruko…she had her own demons to deal with.

In the end their fate would all hinge on one child, someone who was dragged into this mess because of the inaction of two.

 **(Octo Canyon)***

 **Old Outpost***

Naruko stumbled as she exited the Kettle. Her eyes glossy from unshed tears _'What the fuck was that? That wasn't me…I...I don't even know anymore.'_ She thought as she trudged towards the small building.

' _Whatever it was I'll figure it out later right now I need to stop this bleeding.'_

For now she was going to patch herself up and get some well needed rest, because tomorrow…tomorrow was when the true hell would begin.

* * *

 **Holy shit that took way too long to write.**

 **God damn some of this chapter hurt to write.**

 ***0. Is NSS the right thing to call their group?**

 ***1. OK I lied, what sounds better? Tenta-Hair or just Hair?**

 ***2. Imagine a Dark blue 1994 Mitsubishi Diamante**

 ***3. I needed to figure out a name for a lethal version of the Splatoon weaponry would be. Some versions (Naruko's Gae Bolg) fire a super heated shot of ferrofluid(Very illegal)**

 *** it be a crack sound or something else?**

 ***5.6. The hubs for Hero Mode are bigger and have a proper building in them instead of the literal shack in both.**

 ***7. I just decided to call it that until we reach the Splatoon 2 part of the story…if we do.**

 **Silvanium:So was it worth the wait?**

 **Callie:... You got lucky.**

 **Naruko: Meh it was okay I guess….uh you okay there Marie?**

 **Marie:...**

 **Silvanium:Hmm?**

 **Marie:...…**

 **Silvanium:Still can't hear you.**

 **Marie:YOU MADE ME OUT TO BE A BITCH! I'M GONNA KICK YOUR ASS!**

 **Silvanium: Oh shit not again…not! Eat taser.**

 **Marie:*Zap* *Thump***

 **Silvanium: Ahh good times.**

 **Anyway see you next chapter. Also before I forget, I will be doing a secondary story that will essentially just be one offs and such in between updates. Both canon and non-canon,some will be humour, some will be dark, some will probably make your brain hurt(not that this fic doesn't already).**

 **Ekolu:Holy shit, I think Marie's dead!**

 **Eight:...Yay?**


	6. Fresh wounds and Old friends

**Guess who's back again!**

 **Eight:Santa!?**

 **Silvanium:What!? No! Why the hell would you think that?**

 **Eight:Oh….am feeling bad now**

 **Four:Way to go Silv, you've made her feel bad now.**

 **Marina: Your a terrible person.**

 **Silvanium:Ok the fuck? And the hell are you speaking in broken inklish Eight?**

 **Eight: Me no talking to mean butt.**

 **Silvanium:Oookay?**

 **Pearl:Can we start this already?**

 **Silvanium:By all means smart ass. Do so.**

 **Pearl:Hmph fine.**

 **Pearl: Silvanium does not own any of the following characters, or franchises …not that he could afford to cus he's a broke bitch.**

 **Silvanium THAT'S IT! BACK TO YOUR HOLE, MAYO GREMLIN!**

 **Pearl: Fuck you bitch! You wanna go!?**

 **Ekolu:Well they're probably going to be at it for a while so. On with the show I guess?**

 _ **Also before we begin, as I mentioned last chapter there are lethal grade ink weapons. These are the classifications:**_

 _ **Low Pressure - Turf War standard (Shooter, Charger, Blaster, Splatling, Sloshers.) Lethality - 0**_

 _ **Medium Pressure (Shooter, Charger, Blaster, Splatling and Octarian basic weaponry as well as the Octo-Weapons.) Lethality - 3 to 5**_

 _ **High Pressure (Shooter, Charger, Splatling.) Lethality - 7 to 10**_

 _ **Multivariable Pressure(Hero weapons, High Pressure can only activated with a special key.) Lethality - 0 to 10**_

 _ **Heated Ferrofluid Weaponry(Gae Bolg,?,?.) Lethality - 100**_

 _ **Strike Based Weapons (Roller, Brush,?) Lethality - 0 to 8**_

 _ **This is just a brief example and it is somewhat subject to change, I already have plans to cover them in full in a later chapter.**_

 **And one last thing…sorry for the delay, I've been sick as all hell this last month and I'm still coming off it. And I know what your thinking "But Silvanium you posted a few oneshots in the last few weeks?". Yes I did, and those were already partially done when I updated this last time…so yeah sorry again.**

 **Anyway on with this weird story that I thought up while sleep deprived, not kidding…I really was and then the idea just stuck…also is this even really a crossover at this point? Or would it only technically be a partial one?**

* * *

 **(Octo Valley)**

 **Cuttlefish Cabin**

It had been two weeks since the Great Zapfish as well as several of the smaller Zapfish had been stolen by the Octarians. Two long and rather annoying weeks in Naruko thought to herself as she laid on one of the beds.

You see in her haste to leave, Naruko did not realise that the cabin at Octo Canyon didn't have that much in the way of supplies…or electricity…or even a bed to be honest. The outpost had only been finished a few weeks prior and Naruko did not know that they had yet to actually stock up the place, something that Marie said she was going to handle but no surprise to Naruko she didn't.

So after about an hour Naruko _had_ to return to the Valley so she could patch herself up. To be completely honest when she weighed her options, being in a more than awkward situation was far better then bleeding out. That and the look on both Callie and Marie's faces when she entered the cabin was priceless, especially when Callie tried and failed to dive behind the kitchen counter completely forgetting that her ribs where pretty badly bruised. Suffice to say her dropping mid-dive because of said bruising was funny as all hell...though… _'Callie didn't deserve what I did to her...*sigh* Some friend I am.'_

Naruko winced slightly as she gently touched her side, it along with the mostly healed wound across her lower back still burned occasionally(oddly enough the cut across her neck was fine.). At least she got proper medical attention or it would have been far worse Naruko thought to herself as she thought back to when she went back to the cabin in the Valley.

( **FLASHBACK** )

Naruko stood outside the cabin. Her hand clutching the still bleeding wound on her side, "C'mon Naruko, don't be a fucking pussy. Just go in, patch yourself up and then leave. Nice and simple _."_ She murmured to herself, She was beginning to feel light headed from the blood loss so it was now or never. By now they _had_ to know that somebody was outside so she couldn't just leave. As she approached the door she could hear them talking.

" _Uhh hey Gramps, Marie…I think someone is at the door."_

" _Ow, don't be, ow ow. Ridiculous Callie. Nobody but members of the NSS aka 'us' know how to get here…well actually Pearl does but that's different."_

" _Yeah but…but you don't think Naruko decided to come back to finish the job do you?"_

Naruko froze as she reached for the handle.

" _I…maybe. *sigh* Shit we really fucked up this time…didn't we."_

" _Both of you shouldn't be to worried."_

" _And why is that Gramps? Didn't you see how she goddamn thrashed Marie? Or how she sucker punched me in the ribs!?"_

" _I did. And I already told the both of you how disappointed I am in the both if you for letting this get to such a point…Naruko is just..hurt at the moment. Both physically and emotionally…just give her some space for the time being, she needs it."_

' _Heh. Don't know how you can be so forgiving Gramps, I did beat the hell out of your two granddaughters in front of you.'_ Naruko thought to herself bitterly.

She still had no goddamn clue what the hell had happened, one moment she was on her knees clutching her side. And the next she was explaining what had happened last night…like she remembered _what_ she did no doubt about that(And she felt sick to her stomach from what she did), but she didn't have control when she did it though. It was like her body was on autopilot and to be honest…it scared her.

And then there was that voice. Just what the hell was it? It sounded like a distorted, sociopathic version of her..was that…was that truly her?

Shaking her head Naruko opened the door.

And that's when the fun started.

As Naruko crossed the threshold into the small home she could practically _feel_ the panic in the air. Both Callie and Marie had a look of downright shock mixed with terror(with a heavy undertone of guilt on Marie's part).

"I told you! She's come back to finish the job!" Callie shouted in panic before she attempted to dive out of sight behind the kitchen counter, only for her to make it not even halfway before dropping like a sack of bricks. "Argh! PAIN!" She shouted/groaned from the floor. Silly Callie, this isn't a some game where the characters can dive around when they are beat up….or have a wicked big bruise on the centre of their torso.

"Take Marie! She started it!" Callie yelled out from the floor causing Marie to sputter "W-what!"

Naruko just looked at the scene blankly before making her way to the impromptu infirmary( The laundry room…it was Callie's idea and it just stuck.).

And just like that, the room was quiet again.

"Are we…are we still alive?" Callie asked, her hands covering her eyes. Marie looked down at her cousin with a deadpan expression "No. She killed us and now we're ghosts….No shit we're still alive!" She exclaimed as she gave Callie a swift kick to the ass.

"Ow!"

"Also what the hell was that just then?" Marie enquired with a glare making Callie shift uncomfortably on the ground." I uh..have no idea what you're talking about." She said weakly.

Callie received another swift kick to her behind "Ow! Hey stop kicking my butt, it hurts you know." She said as she attempted to get up, only to get yet another kick in the ass.

"Mariiiie stooop!" Callie said as she tried and failed to roll out of the way. While this was happening they failed to notice that their grandfather had followed Naruko onto the infirmary.

"Hey ow where's Gramps?" Callie said as Marie's foot clipped her elbow. Marie stopped kicking her cousin(Finally!) and looked around. "Huh..I guess he went to see if Naruko was okay…"

Marie stood silently for a moment " I think we-"

"No."

Marie looked at Callie like she just grew a second head "B-but I...we need to-"

"Listen to Gramps, we need to give her some time...hell we'd only end up making shit worse." Callie explained, though from the sound of her voice she wanted to talk with Naruko just as badly.

"Just give it a few days…hell a few weeks even, after that-" Marie cut her off "No! We have to talk with her now!"

"And achieve what? Another ass kicking? Marie…we fucked up, like big time and if you think that Naruko is just gonna up and forgive us after the shit last night and for what happened an hour ago then she must hit you pretty fucking hard." Callie said as she struggled to sit up. But she wasn't done yet, "And let's not forget the fact that that poor fucking kid got dragged into this shit. Fuck! Fifteen and she had to kill someone, and you know how Naruko is about kids so I'm surprised we didn't get worse."

Marie was shaking now "You think I don't get that Callie! You think I don't regret how I acted!? Well guess what, I fucking do!" She exclaimed angrily.

"I don't think you understand just how pissed Naruko is with us…hell and people say _I'm_ the dumb one." Callie said almost angrily "Marie do you remember how messed up you were when you made your first kill? No amount of training could have fully prepared us for when we eventually would have to…but that kid had none of that, she was just a normal girl that got dragged into this crap because we had our heads so far up our own asses that we couldn't see the harm we were causing." Callie finished as she struggled to her feet...only to fall flat on her ass.

"I know but…but how could we have known?" Marie asked sadly as she sat on the ground next to Callie.

Callie just shook her head "We couldn't have…but we should have at least known better. We just kept pushing and pushing, fuck we both know that Naruko is the kind of person that just bottles her emotions up when she is feeling shit or when she is angry…it makes sense that she would have snapped eventually, and we knew that Marie. We fucking knew she was getting stressed, we knew she was getting mad….but we…we fucking ignored it…"

God damn it Callie of all the times to make sense and act like an adult she does it now?...But she wasn't wrong, they had fucked up BIG TIME. They knew that they were going to far but they did not care, they thought that Naruko would just forgive them in the end like always…but no. Last night was the last straw, they pushed to far…their incompetence had nearly got an innocent kid killed… And then…Naruko snapped. Her eyes went a malevolent crimson and her voice became….distorted..almost…. **demonic.**

It scared the absolute shit out of the both of them.

They both sat in silence for a few moments. The full weight of their actions completely sinking in.

" _She's never going to forgive us…is she?"_ Callie said in a whisper, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. The strong sensible persona from before slipping away, revealing just how upset she truly was.

Marie shook her head gently "I…I don't know."

Marie stood up and held a hand out to her cousin "C'mon…It probably would be better if we made ourselves scarce before Gramps patches Naruko up…*sigh* it's gonna be fun explaining why we look like we had our asses kicked."

Callie took her hand and gently pulled herself up "You mean explain why _you_ look like you got your ass kicked. I'm not the one with a black eye and a split lip."

Marie winced slightly, yeah this was gonna be hard "Well… we do have the next week off so we can think of something, also….maybe we could get started on getting the Zapfish back?" Marie suggested.

Callie shook her head in disagreement "None of us are in any shape to be doing that. I can barely walk because of my ribs and I don't think your aim would be that good with a swollen black eye. And Naruko is _definitely_ not in any shape either." She explained motioning to herself and then to Marie.

"I know but-"

" _ARGH! FUCKING HELL! THAT SHIT BURNS!_

" _Language, lass."_

" _Fuck you old man! GAH! YOU JUST DID THAT ON PURPOSE!"_

" _I have no idea what you're talking about. Now stop squirming and let me clean that wound."_

Callie and Marie gave each other a look…yeah they should probably leave.

 **-Twenty minutes later-**

Naruko was now bandaged and comfortably seated on the couch in the living room of the cabin, the Cap'n was sitting across from her with a cup of tea and some crabby cakes.

The silence was deafening. Naruko refused to make eye contact with the Cap'n…with her _Grandfather._

' _Damn it Naruko. Say something. Anything!'_

"I-"

"I'm not angry with you." The Cap'n said completely catching Naruko off guard.

"Your anger...while a touch extreme was justifiable."

Naruko sat there in shock. How was he NOT pissed at her? She had lost her temper and beat the shit out of Callie and Marie _in front of him_ and all he had to say is He isn't mad at her?

 _"Why?"_ Naruko whispered as she stared down at her hands.

The Cap'n looked at Naruko "Hmm?"

"Why aren't you mad? Why aren't you pissed at me?" She said. The Cap'n just shook his head "I have no reason to be so."

Naruko's head snapped up her eyes brimming with tears "That's bullshit and you know it! You saw what I did, you saw me attack them!" Naruko yelled, her voice cracking slightly.

"I hurt them…even if they deserved it.. _I hurt them._ I promised you that I would _always_ protect them, I promised you that I would _never harm them_! So why!? WHY ARE YOU NOT ANGRY!? I BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF YOUR GRANDDAUGHTERS, AND I DID IT IN FRONT OF YOU! ME! A FUCKING OUTSIDER HURT THEM AND-"

"You are not an outsider Naruko…you are just as much my granddaughter as Callie and Marie are, and nothing will ever change that fact." The Cap'n said calmly.

Naruko shook her head "I'm not Cap'n…just because you took me in as a child _doesn't_ make me family...I broke your trust today….after everything you have done for me." Naruko looked down as tears began to fall.

 _"I am nothing but a monster…"_

.

.

.

"You don't truly believe that, do you?" The elder Inkling asked…no flat out stated.

Naruko looked as if she was, about to retort when he continued "Would a monster protect their friends when they are being bullied or harassed? Because you do just that." The Cap'n said, referencing how protective(overly so at times) she was to her friends.

Naruko looked away "…A monster would have left that girl to die last night. But you didn't, you tried your best to protect her..you used yourself as bait so she could leave safely, and when that failed you took her somewhere you _knew_ she would be safe…a monster wouldn't do that." The Cap'n said as he placed his cup on the table.

" You are not a monster Naruko….and even _if_ you were….you would _still_ be my granddaughter. Nothing will ever change that." The Cap'n..Craig finished as he looked at his granddaughter.

Naruko just sat there completely still, tears falling from her eyes "I…I..*sob* G-gramps…I-I'm scared. I've been getting so…so _angry_ lately. It's like I don't have any control…I didn't want to hurt them, but _I did_." She cried. It was very apparent to Craig that all of the stress, all of the responsibility that Callie and Marie had shirked onto Naruko on top the false accusations from a few weeks ago as well as the falling out between Naruko and Marie was finally starting to make her crack.

"Is this the first time you have…lashed out to this extent?" Craig asked softly. Naruko nodded, Craig leant back in his chair and closed his eyes in contemplation _'Perhaps some proper time off would do her some good? Let her unwind and heal, maybe after that she could get rid of some of that stress with some of that Turf War stuff.'_ Nodding his head Craig stood from his chair.

"Naruko," He began causing her to look at him "I want you to take the next week off...you need-"

"Are you crazy!? What about the Zapfish!?" Naruko shouted as she shot up from the couch her saddens now mixed with slight anger, "Because we both know that Callie and Marie sure as hell won't fucking do shit! Gramps I need to get out there as soon as possi-"

"Naruko you will have the week off and that is final!" Craig said going into full Captain mode. "I would demand you take more than a week but we both know you would just ignore me." He finished as he hobbled over to Naruko.

Naruko grit her teeth "Is that an order _Captain?_ " She asked knowing full well that he hated it when she or the others called him such. Craig gently put his hand on the taller Inklings arm "No…just simply an old fool looking out for his stubborn granddaughter." He said with a small smile.

Naruko closed her eyes and took a deep breath "...fine." She murmured.

Craig just gave his usual grandfatherly smile…why the hell does he always look so damn smug when he does that? He knows we won and he's rubbing it in!

"Go home, unwind and heal up lass. And after that…hmm...you _do_ enjoy Turf War, so maybe do a few rounds?...After you have healed up of course."

The look on Naruko's face immediately soured at the mention of Turf War "A bit hard to do any Turf War when I'm banned Gramps." Naruko said bitterly.

Ahh…yes that was right _'Oh..oh that's right, Callie did mention that Naruko was banned because of that scandal…oh dear.'_

You see during the whole 'Naruko was an abusive girlfriend' scandal Naruko was actually the captain of a Pro team, said team was called 'Regis'…and the Turf War Commission(TFC) has very _VERY_ strict rules when it came to its pros. One such rule was if any of their pro-players were accused of domestic violence they were put on ice, not a ban, but a temporary suspension of sorts until either the accused was proven either innocent or guilty.

But Naruko?... Well….seeing as the Squid Sisters news segments _are_ being funded by the TFC, it essentially made them the poster girls of the TFC. And seeing as there was a lot of 'evidence' that showed Naruko was abusive they decided to skip the suspension and go right for the ban…despite the fact that five days afterwards it was proven that Callie and Marie's Manager had faked the entirety of it.

So sadly the ban was enforced indefinitely and seeing as some people _still_ thought Naruko was an abusive girlfriend(despite the Manager admitting that it was a lie) it wasn't gonna be lifted anytime soon, though there _was_ a way to appeal the ban. But she would have to wait a minimum of two years to do so.

And on that note as well it was probably for the better if she didn't do any Turf War…especially if she was put against her old team _the fucking backstabbing cunts!_ Yeah there was a very _very_ good reason why she was nicknamed 'The Vermillion Storm' by the League fans, and she sure as fuck was going to show those spineless pricks exactly why…when she was unbanned of course.

Naruko shook her head "Meh who cares. I'll just relax at home I guess….probably check in on Ekolu while I'm at it."

Craig nodded his head in agreement before gently pulling Naruko into a hug which Naruko did the same back "Please Naruko take it easy…for me ok."

 **-Later-**

 **Inkopolis** **Plaza**

Naruko was now dressed in a burnt orange hooded jacket with the hood over her head, dark grey jeans and a pair of black combat boots that had two small silver buckles on each.

She slowly made her way across the plaza weaving between the hoards of teenagers that where either here to do some Turf War or to just hang with their friends. She had missed this, just walking about the Plaza minding her own business.

Honestly, nothing at the moment could ruin this. Just walking and relaxing…nothing stressful. Nothing-

 _"Do you know who I am!"_

Naruko paused. A small crowd was gathered across the street to the left of her.

 _'Huh I wonder what's going on?...Nah I ain't getting involved.'_ Naruko thought to herself as she continued on her way. Probably the best decision, seeing as _some_ people would make a big spectacle if they recognised her, and she _did_ promise the old man that she'll take it easy for a few days.

 _"Holy shit! She just punched that kid in the face!"_ Naruko came to a halt "*sigh*...god fucking damn it." She murmured as she turned and made her way to the crowd. Yeah she had a feeling she knew who was causing shit.

 **(In the crowd)**

Standing over a young Inkling girl was an older girl, she had emerald green eyes and stood at around 5'6 and had tanned skin, purple medium length tentacles and was wearing some expensive looking Turf gear(her shirt had a wet splotch on it, likely from the now discarded paper cup on the ground) . Obviously a high ranked player.

And at her feet was an obvious rookie to the Turf War scene, seeing as she was in the basic lvl 1 gear…she was also obviously much younger then the girl that had just punched her.

"Well?!" The older girl screamed at the girl who was cowering on the ground.

"I-I-I'm s-sorry f-for bumping i-in to y-you." The younger girl whimpered causing the Purple Inkling to scoff at her "Oh? You're sorry are you?" the younger Inkling nodded "Your sorry of spilling my drink on my new outfit?" another nod.

The Purple Inkling glared "Well to fucking bad!" She roared as she lifted her arm to strike the younger girl again.

The younger girl closed her eyes…but the blow never came. Opening her eyes she stared up in slight confusion.

Next to the Purple Inkling was another person, she was taller and had her face obscured by her hood. But that wasn't what caught her eye…no the fact that this new person had the Purple Inklings wrist in a death grip did.

"Ah! H-hey what's the big idea!? Let go!"

The taller Inkling just gripped harder making the Purple girl fall to her knees she could feel the cartilage in her wrist cracking.

"Not even Captain of the team for a month and your already throwing your weight around and picking fights with fucking children? I knew you were pathetic, but this is a new low…even for you _Mistral.._ " The now named Mistral knelt there in what appeared to be horror, her eyes widening in fear.

"W-what are _you_ doing here!? You got banned!" She yelled as she tried to squirm out of the hooded girls grip.

The crowd began murmuring. Who was this hooded girl?

"I may be banned from participating in Turf War and Ranked Matches, Mistral….but that doesn't mean that I'm banned from the Plaza as a whole…. _you spineless fucking bitch!_ " the Hooded Girl growled out.

"That's quite enough _Leviathan!_ " a dignified(if kinda snobbish) voice sounded from the crowd. The crowd began to part revealing the one behind the voice. "While her actions are _reprehensible,_ she is correct. What is your business here _Naruko_." Spoke a short Inkling girl.

Said girl stood at around 5'4. She had long pale blue/white tentacles that were tied back and was somewhat pale skinned. She wore a pair of glasses, a long sleeved blue dress shirt, black slacks and a pair of nice looking shoes.

This was Shiva. The leader of Team Iceheart… And she was also Naruko's somewhat rival…keyword being _was_.

"Hmph, of course you step in _now_ …where was this courage when this fuckwit was beating on that kid?" Naruko said has she threw Mistral aside to which she got up and ran the fuck out of there, something that some of the crowd did as well as they now realised just who was in front of them.

Shiva grimaced "I was about to intervene…but you beat me to it." It was a poor excuse, both she and Naruko knew it.

Naruko shook her head and looked down at the younger girl that was now shaking like a leaf "You ok kid?" She asked as she approached her. Only for the girl to back up in fear. _'Oh…I guess she is one of the people that still believe the lies…'_

Naruko sighed and lowered her hood "You know Shiva," She began "I'm not gonna be able to stop Mistral and the other _idiots_ from my old team anymore. Now that Mistral is the Captain of Team Regis she is gonna get even more arrogant than before, fuck she already acted like she was fucking untouchable…"

Shiva just looked at Naruko, her ice blue eyes glaring into Naruko's azure ones "I appreciate your concern Naruko. But coming from your mouth, after what you _did_ … I think I will take my chances." Naruko just shrugged and began to walk away "I really don't give a shit if you listen to me or not, it's just a friendly bit of advice."

Shiva glared at Naruko's back as she walked away.

"Oh and before I forget." Naruko said as she came to a stop "In about two years, I'm gonna appeal to get the ban rescinded…you know seeing as the only reason it hasn't already is because of rules and shit." Shiva cocked an eyebrow, why was Naruko telling her this?

"And why would I care?"

Naruko turned her head and gave Shiva a menacing smile "Because when that unjust ban is lifted…I'm gonna show you petty fucks **exactly why they call me The Vermillion Storm.** " She said as her eyes turned a malevolent crimson. Letting out a chuckle Naruko proceeded on her way, leaving a fearful Shiva.

 _'Oh…oh dear.'_ Shiva thought in fear at Naruko's statement.

 **-Forty minutes later-**

"Finally fucking home. God that was a disaster and a half…" Naruko said as she left the elevator and continued to her apartment.

"*sigh* Now I can just kick back, relax and-"

 ***Crash***

Naruko froze at her door, her hand hovering just above the handle.

 _"Get back here ya damn thief! You think you can break into my friends house!? Think again!"_

 _"I'm not a thief! Just let me expla-"_

 _ ***Thump***_

 _"Holy fuck! Stop swinging that thing at me!"_

 _"Not happening. Now hold still!"_

Naruko's eye twitched, this wasn't happening right?

 ***Bang* *Crash***

God fucking damn it.

Taking a deep breath she grabbed the handle and opened the door.

And my oh my what a sight she saw,

The living room was completely trashed. The couch had been somehow flipped and there was several things scattered all over the floor. Well at least the TV wasn't smashed..that's a plus.

 ***Clang* *Thunk***

"You're fucking crazy!" A voice yelled as a person ran out of the kitchen. It was Ekolu and boy did she look worse for ware.

Looking around erratically as if she was searching for a place to hide she spotted Naruko "Oh thank god. Naruko there's this crazy m-"

 ***Donk***

Ekolu's eyes went blank as she fell forward completely knocked out.

"Aha! Gotcha bitch!" A victorious voice exclaimed.

The voice came from a rather short Inkling, standing only at 4'9 tall. She had short white tentacles that were pink at the ends and had gold eyes(similar to Callie and Marie, yet different…Naruko always found that odd really.), Her outfit consisted of a black tank top that showed off her stomach, ripped black pants and a pair of black combat boots as well as a pair black fingerless gloves…another noticeable thing was the fact that both of her ears had multiple piercings(there was also a single nose piercing) and the small black crown that was resting on her head(Naruko was beginning to think that maybe she needed some kind of hat or head accessory seeing as she was the only one that didn't wear one).

This 'adorable' black clad(edgy) gremlin was Pearl Houzuki. Naruko's best friend.

And man oh man was Naruko not happy with her, " _Pearl."_ Naruko ground out.

Looking up from her defeated 'foe' Pearl gave a toothy grin "Hey girl, What up!" She spoke as if she _didn't_ just brain a teenager with a frying pan.

" _What. The. Fuck._ " Naruko said as her eye twitched rapidly.

Pearl blinked a few times "Oh this?" She pointed at the unconscious Ekolu "I caught her going through your stuff, and I thought to myself 'Holy shit it's a burglar' so I gave her the ole Houzuki special...God damn I really let her have it." Pearl finished as she knelt down and poked the younger girls face with the pan.

"Pearl…read your fucking messages."

"Huh?"

Naruko facepalmed "Your phone dick head."

Pearl gave a sour look before pulling out her phone _'The hell is her…problem…oohhh crap.'_

 **(9:05)**

 **Naruko:** _Hey Pearlie just a heads up,_

 _When you stop by the apartment later_

 _don't give Ekolu a heart attack._

 **(9:06)**

 **Naruko:** _I'll explain who she is in detail later_

 _but I owe the kid big time so I'm letting_

 _her crash at the apartment for a few days(maybe longer.)._

 _So if you see her and she's say… I dunno looking at stuff, or going through the games/movies, DO NOT OVER REACT!_

Ahh shit. Yep… she was screwed

"Ehehe…oops?" Pearl said sheepishly.

Naruko was _not_ amused,

"You were stuffing your face, weren't you?" Naruko flat out accused. Pearl looked at her feet with a sheepish look, "Yeah, I got myself a breakfast burrito from that place you told me about. And IT. WAS. AMAZING!" She gushed.

"So amazing that you ignored my messages? Fucking hell, You and Callie are as bad as each other when it comes to food." Naruko pinched the bridge of her nose. Looking at Ekolu who was unconscious on the ground Naruko sighed.

"*sigh* Help me get Ekolu on the couch." Pearl gave Naruko a look "Dude…I don't think I'll be much help. She's bigger than me!"

"Yeah and I have two deep cuts across both my side and back that haven't healed. So suck it up princess."

"Wait what?"

"I'll tell you all about it, _after_ we get the kid onto the couch."

"But the couch is flipped over." Pearl whined.

"And who's fault is that!"

After a few moments of deliberation they decided to just put Ekolu in one of the rooms.

Taking a seat in the kitchen Pearl rested her chin on her knuckles "Alright Naruko, you got some explaining."

Naruko shrugged slightly and sat across from Pearl "Well it all started last night…"

 **-Some time later-**

"And that about covers all of it.." Naruko said as she leant back on the chair. Wow was it midday already?

Pearl was looking down at the table silently, something that was quite unusual for the normally young adult. However at closer examination Naruko could see her shoulders trembling slightly.

 _"You just can't catch a break can ya."_ Pearl whispered. This was absolute bullshit. Why the hell did all the bad shit have to happen to Naruko? First Marie up and breaks her heart just days before Squidmas, and then those absolutely _foul_ rumours that were spread by that bitch manager….but now this, she nearly fucking died because of those to selfish fucking bitches.

And to top it all off. The Kid she smashed across the back of the head earlier had to kill someone last night to save both herself and Naruko's lives…. _a fucking innocent fifteen year old girl that had out of the goodness of her heart, gave Naruko a ride back to one of the apartments last night had to take a goddamn life to save Naruko!_

"If it makes you feel any better, I did kick the crap out of Marie…and Callie." Pearl just gave her a sad look.

"That's even fucking worse Naruko! Because I damn well know for a fact that you are very likely to be feeling like a piece of shit because you did that!"

Naruko looked away and that was all Pearl needed to know

"I swear to god I'm gonna-"

 _ ***Thump***_ _"Owwwww!"_

Naruko and Pearl looked at each other "I guess Ekolu is awake…you gonna stay and apologise?" Naruko said getting up from her seat.

Pearl nodded and got up as well "Yeah I really should…I kinda overreacted." She said sheepishly. Naruko gave her a flat look "You brained her with a frying pan."

"I thought she was a burglar." Pearl murmured dejectedly causing Naruko to shake her head with an amused smile before walking down the hall.

Pearl looked towards where Naruko had walked down and then to her phone, leaning back on the chair she knew what she had to do..consequences be damned! She was gonna get to the bottom of this.

 **(12:04)**

 **Pearl:** _I don't know what the fuck you two were thinking. But you fucked up big time!_

 **(12:04)**

 **Callie:** _What the hell are you on about?_

 **(12:05)**

 **Pearl:** _Don't you play dumb with me you fuck wit!_

 **Pearl:** _Last night! What happened to Naruko and that kid is on the two of yours shoulders. And do not get me fucking started on you two dumping your duties onto Naruko!_

 **(12:05)**

 **Callie:** _..._

 **Callie:** _We know…_

 **Callie:** _is..is Naruko looking OK? Are her injuries healing?_

 **(12:07)**

 **Pearl:...** _Not sure. She looks like she is this close to dropping dead from exhaustion. But other then that…she's fine I think._

 **(12:07)**

 **Callie:** _Oh…that's good..or not..we really fucked up…didn't we?_

 **(12:07)**

 **Pearl:** _You bet your fucking ass you did!_

 **Pearl:** _Jesus Christ woman, I know you and Marie do stupid shit at times but fuck this takes the cake!_

( **12:08)**

 **Callie:** _I KNOW OK! I FUCKING KNOW!_

 **Callie:** _You don't think Marie and I don't feel like absolute scum?! Because we fucking do!_

 **Callie:** _We fucked up and now…now she will_ _ **never**_ _forgive us!_

Pearl stared sadly at her phone. It didn't take a genius to know that Callie was likely crying her eyes out at this point...that thought itself hurt her a little,

Pearl honestly felt like they deserved this and rightly so. Who the hell make someone cover them for over two weeks straight while they enjoy their life, and the fact that they kept it up during and after that absolute bullshit from last week made Pearl pissed as all hell…not once did they even _thank_ Naruko, that alone was scummy….

And yet deep down…Pearl just wanted everything to go back to normal. It hurt…it hurt more than she could describe seeing her best friends destroying themselves like this, but what could she do? Nothing that's what, she was powerless…she hated it.

Honestly, all Pearl was good for was either being somewhat decent emotional support…or screaming into a microphone. And she knew this, but still she tried _'Heh last time I tried to help Naruko in a fight I ended up getting my ass kicked.'_ Pearl thought with a small smile. Naruko was a good friend to her...when others treated her like an outcast, Naruko, Callie and Marie stayed by her side…but Naruko had her back more so than the others...something she began to hate at one point, with her foolishly believing at one point that Naruko was pitying her.

It was only after a rather _bad_ fight with some bullies in her second year of high school did she realise that it was not pity…no, it was the actions of someone who'd do anything to protect those precious to them. It was the actions of a true friend…someone who genuinely cared for her wellbeing.

But now….now that was in ruins,

Now..the friendship between the four of them that was so strong, was now hanging on by a thread.

Pearl honestly didn't know what to do any more. She still wanted to hear Marie's side of this…but she knew she wouldn't be able to keep her temper in check, she knew that she-

"You ok there Pearl? You look like you've seen your favorite character in a game just die."

Pearl was shook from her thoughts by Naruko. Wait how long had she been there? _'What the…it's 12:20?...how long was I spaced out for?'_

"Huh? Oh yeah I'm fine, just spacing out 'n' shit." Pearl responded with a slight wince, She had twisted the wrong way and now her back felt like it was burning slightly…heh nothing unusual.

A hand gently grasped her shoulder, looking up she saw Naruko looking at her with a concerned look…oh no…. no no no, she knew exactly what that look meant.

"Pearl.."

Don't say it.

"You good?"

Don't say it!

"Is your back giving you trouble?"

Fucking hell Naruko!

"I'm fine Ruko…if anything I should be saying that to you." Pearl deflected but Naruko wasn't convinced.

"Pearl." Naruko said in a serious tone,

"Naruko." Pearl responded in kind, she really didn't want to go into detail about this shit right now.

Naruko sighed and removed her hand "If you say so." She murmured as she walked to the kitchen.

Pearl sighed lightly as she leaned back on the chair her eyes gingerly shifting to Ekolu, who was sitting across the room glaring at her.

Pearl gave her an apologetic look and received a grumpy huff in return.

 _'Well… it could be worse I guess'_ she thought to herself as she looked at the somewhat angry teenager.

 **(** **FLASHBACK END** **)**

Man it had been a hectic two weeks( If slightly boring for the first one.) but progress had been made. This last week alone Naruko had retrieved fifteen Mini-Zapfish from Octo Canyon, and from what she has heard another Agent(much to her surprise) had recently been making progress in the Valley.

 _'Tomorrow is gonna be interesting...I wonder what Gramps needs, hmm probably just a progress briefing seeing as he wants all of us to be here at 7am…guess I won't know till tomorrow.'_ Naruko thought as she fell asleep, she had an odd sinking feeling in her gut if something that is gonna piss her off big time was about to happen…what could possibly be so important that all Agent's have to be in attendance? Meh, probably just the Cap'n just being himself again….right?

The feeling in Naruko's stomach never went away that night.

 **-The next day-**

 **Cuttlefish Cabin**

 **6:55am**

Naruko was seated at the briefing table(kitchen table) and was drinking a cup of coffee. Across from her was Callie and Marie, both dressed in their incognito outfit minus the hats and such, unlike Naruko who was dressed in what she slept in the night prior(A loose purple tank top and black pyjama pants).

"So…any idea what Gramps needed to tell us?" Callie said finally.

Naruko shrugged and took a sip of her coffee "Not a fucking clue. Been busy getting the Zapfish back."

Both Callie and Marie winced and the harsh tone, though to be honest this is exactly how they expected this conversation to go.

"Uh..um...H-how's…how's your wounds?" Callie asked tentatively. Naruko gave the both of them a flat look before shrugging and lifting her top show them the still fresh looking scar on her side.

"Was worse a week ago."

However Callie wasn't listening, her eyes were focused on Naruko's stomach.

 _'Did… did she always have that?'_ Callie thought as she looked at the tattoo like markings on Naruko's toned stomach. Was that always there? Looking at Marie, she saw that she was that she was staring guiltily at the scar on Naruko's side and nothing else.

"So," Naruko began.

Callie and Marie looked up.

"Apparently there has been another Agent going around kicking octo-ass and retrieving some of the Mini-Zapfish in the Valley…" Callie and Marie had a shocked look on their faces. That confirmed what Naruko had been thinking "I'm guessing from the look on your faces that you two aren't the one responsible…heh nothing new I guess."

God damn it, that odd feeling she had was back again. Who the hell was the new Agent?

"Do you think Pearl finally decided to join up?" Callie asked. Naruko shook her head negatively "No, that'd be impossible. She's visiting her grandparents back in Calamari County…that and do you honestly think that she wouldn't have told us if she decided to finally join us?"

Callie and Marie nodded their heads it did make sense…guess they just had to wait.

 **-Thirty minutes later-**

Naruko had filled up another cup of coffee and was getting somewhat impatient.

"OK if Gramps ain't here in twenty minutes, I'm going back to bed." Naruko grumbled. It was getting kinda ridiculous that he was making them wait this long…especially since Craig _did_ insist Naruko took two days off per week…and this was one of those days so…yeah she wanted to sleep some more.

Luckily she wouldn't have to wait any longer.

"Hey Squiddos. Sorry for the delay." Captain Cuttlefish exclaimed as he entered the cabin. Not looking up from her drink Naruko greeted the old man with a small hello.

"Hey Cap'n/Gramps!" Callie and Marie greeted.

"Did we keep you three waiting long?"

Wait…we?

Looking up from her drink Naruko's eyes widened in shock, _'Gramps….what the fuck have you done!?'_

Next to the Cap'n was a young girl with orange tentacles and purple eyes. She was wearing Callie's old Agent gear and had a shy smile on her face.

"H-hey everyone." The girl said shyly.

The Cap'n let out a grandfatherly laugh "Don't be shy lass, introduce yourself."

"R-right," The girl said. Taking a deep breath the girl looked towards the other Agent's.

"Hi everyone, My name is Ekolu Faris…..but you can call me Agent Three." Ekolu said with a bright smile.

The sound of a cup shattering followed soon after…

"Agent One, Agent Two…" Naruko began " The two of you can give Three the tour of the place…I need to have a word with the _Captain._ "

Callie and Marie looked at each other and then back at Naruko "Uhh…why exa-"

"Agent One….I was not asking.." Naruko growled out. Callie's eyes widened in slight fear "Y-yeah s-sure thing Agent Zero….c-c'mon Two, let's give Three the grand tour!" Callie said urgently as she grabbed Marie and Ekolu and sprinted out the door dragging the other two with her.

Captain Cuttlefish gave Naruko a flat look "That wasn't very nice of you to order her like that Agent Zero...I-"

"Cut the shit Old Man…What the fuck were you thinking!?"

Captain Cuttlefish let out a sigh as he sat across from Naruko "Would you believe me if I told you that she contacted me first."

Naruko looked unimpressed.

"After all you _did_ give her a card with my contact details on it as a precaution that night."

Oh yeah that was right…she did do that…fucking hell.

"Now then…onto business." The Cap'n said going into full Captain mode.

"Agent Zero, you said you had some information on a Weapons Facility?"

Naruko nodded her head "Yeah…Octo-Weapons Facility H…not exactly sure what they are doing there, but they are trying to keep it under wraps…even with their own forces. So if I was to guess…I'd say they are working on a new Octo-Weapon, seeing as that _is_ the same place the Flooders were created."

Captain Cuttlefish closed his eyes in contemplation.

"Keep me updated on any information you come across on the Facility…and Naruko, I know what you are thinking… _do not infiltrate_ the Facility until we know what they are doing in there."

Naruko nodded her head "Of course Captain."

Getting up from her seat Naruko made for the door "Well…I'm gonna get some more sleep…we'll talk later about Ekolu."

Captain Cuttlefish gave a nod to his granddaughter "OK then...I'm sorry for not telling you about Ekolu…" he said, but Naruko had already left the room.

Heh, first the Great Zapfish gets stolen and now Ekolu has joined the NSS…what could possibly happen next?

* * *

 **God damn that took forever to write.**

 **Sorry for the delay on this chapter.**

 **So as you saw I introduced some OC's, they will mainly be involved with the Turf War aspect of this fic as well as a few smaller roles here and there. But for now here is the Turf War profile's of Naruko and Shiva.**

 **Naruko U. Cuttlefish**

 **Moniker:** Leviathan

 **Rank:** S+

 **Team:** N/A(formerly the Captain of Regis)

 **Player status:** Banned

 **Ysayle Dangoulain**

 **Moniker:** Shiva

 **Rank:** S

 **Team:** Iceheart(Captain)

 **Player status** :Active

 **I'll update their information as I go along with the story. Also can any of you guess what Ysayle/Shiva is from…**

 **Anyway that's it for now, hopefully I can get the next chapter out before Shadowbringers drops…later.**

 **Callie:Hey! What about our outro?**

 **Ekolu:Yeah!**

 **Silvanium:Don't feel like it.**

 **Naruko: Well…you're no fun**

 **Eight: Still a mean butt!**

 **Silvanium: *sigh* g'night everyone, see you all next chapter.**


	7. Interlude - Meetings and a bond refomed

**Hey all, bet you weren't expecting to see this updated again this month. Now onto the important stuff, this chapter is gonna be a little…different.**

 **Mainly because it's focusing on Ekolu(kinda) and a few added bits of filler with Naruko …don't worry though this is just a build up to the real good stuff.**

 **Ekolu: You say that, but your notes say otherwise.**

 **Silvanium: Hey! No reading ahead!**

 **Ekolu: Screw off, I'm the main focus of this chapter. So bleh!**

 **Marie:Hey there is that Flashback that is pretty impor-**

 **Silvanium:Shhhhh! That's not in this chapter idiot!**

 **Callie: On with the chapter!**

 **One last thing before we start, this cha is a little different…so if Callie seems a little...off this chapter there is a very good reason that is so…yeah, trust me.**

* * *

 **Inkopolis Plaza**

 **(Cafe Oceania)**

"Sooo…how'd you end up joining?"

Ekolu gave Callie a blank look from across the table, you see Callie had decided that they should get some breakfast(coffee and baked goods) before the tour of the cabin/HQ(despite the fact that Ekolu was sure the cabin had only like five rooms at best.), something that everyone agreed was a good idea.

They were seated in one of the booths in the back, away from the rest of the customers. The cafe itself was a nice cozy little place and the hot chocolate and cake that Ekolu had ordered was great so she had no complaints. And the fresh baked chocolate cookies that Callie had ordered were pure bliss, though Marie however had ordered a rather large bowl of something called Death by Chocolate, and she had polished it off in only a few minutes and was currently going through a second one.

"I asked if I could join, and the Cap'n said yes." Ekolu answered truthfully. Marie rolled her eyes "She means _how_ did you contact our grandfather." She said rudely as she ate another bite of her chocolaty…meal?

Callie frowned at the rude tone in Marie's voice _'Greeeat, off to a wonderful start Marie.'_ Callie thought sarcastically.

"Naruko gave me a card with his contact details on it…that night." Ekolu said looking down at her drink.

And now Marie felt like an ass.

"I…uh..I'm sorry if I am coming off a little…standoffish, it's… it's been a long two weeks." Marie apologized weakly, yeah now things were even more awkward.

"So!" Callie said cutting in "I bet you were surprised to find out that _we_ are Agent's like Naruko." She said cheerfully while striking a pose from her seat.

"Heh yeah, I'm honestly surprised you haven't asked for an autograph yet." Marie added. Ekolu gave the two of them an uncomfortable look and murmured something under her breath.

Both Callie and Marie gave her an odd look "What?... You kinda mumbled that." Callie said.

Ekolu's face flushed a light red "I…I'm not…." Ekolu began only to mumble the rest.

"C'mon kid, we don't bite." Marie goaded as she ate another mouth full of her dessert/breakfast. "Much." She finished playfully.

"I'm not a fan of your music…" The playful look on Marie's face melted into one of surprise.

"Eh!" Callie yelped "You're kidding!? Y-you don't like our music?" She said louder then she meant. Ekolu shrank back thinking she had angered the older two girls. Noticing this Callie quickly followed up her question "S-so what kind o-of music do you like?" She asked before stomping on her cousins foot as Marie had started to unconsciously glare at Ekolu.

"W-well…I like rock music…and.." Ekolu mumbled the rest.

"Aaand?"

Ekolu blushed slightly "I…I also like Metal…" She mumbled.

Both Callie and Marie had a strained smile _'Oh god, it's like Pearl and Naruko mixed together…I wonder if she likes Splatallica or Coral Zeppelin?/Really…Rock and Metal music are her favourites? Laaaame.'_ they both thought.

"So…you prefer stuff like Coral Zeppelin over our kind of music, right?" Callie asked.

Ekolu nodded her head with a smile "Y-yeah. I used to listen to the older bands with my dad when I was little." She said happily. Callie smiled back "Yeah the older ones are great…oh! Do you listen to Monarch?"

Ekolu nodded her head vigorously "Hell yeah! I know the lyrics of like half their songs off by heart."

"Marie hates it when I start singing along to them in the car." Callie giggled. She was really starting to like Ekolu, she seemed like a sweet kid…it was just a shame that she got dragged into their mess. Callie frowned slightly _'Would have loved to get to know her outside of this stuff….I'm definitely going to make it up to her...but how?'_

While Callie and Ekolu were talking about music and other subjects, Marie sat there eating her third bowl of Death By Chocolate with a small frown.

 **-30 minutes later-**

 **(Outside the cafe)**

"I told you, you should have stopped at your fourth bowl." A now in disguise Callie scolded her cousin…something that was a complete reversal of the norm.

Marie(who of course was in her disguise as well) however ignored her in favour of clutching her stomach in pain and attempting to not up chuck her overly chocolaty breakfast.

Ekolu(Who was dressed in a simple red shirt and jeans) just looked on at the scene in mild fascination and slight humour. This was NOT how she was expecting to spend her Saturday...not that she was complaining it was pretty funny seeing the serious and snarky half of the Squid Sisters in this predicament.

Ekolu was about to open her mouth to say something but a figure coming towards them caught her attention.

"Oh hey Naruko!"

Callie and Marie's eyes widened in horror as they looked over to Ekolu, and just as she said there was a now fully dressed(same outfit as before) Naruko giving them a humorous yet displeased look "Y'know…I thought it was Callie's job to eat herself sick at places like this."

Ignoring the pain in her stomach Marie shot up like an arrow and walked as quickly as she could to the Valley entrance…or really she hobbled in said direction. Naruko shrugged and followed suit to ensure she didn't get hit by a car or mobbed by rabid fans(Yes some were smart enough to see through the two of theirs kinda crappy disguises)...though it was mainly to make Marie panic when she realised Naruko was following.

Callie and Ekolu stared for a moment before shaking their heads. They were about to follow after them but a voice calling out to them stopped them.

"Excuse me, but are you by chance Ember?"

Callie and Ekolu turned to the person speaking to them, It was Shiva.

"Um?"

"Oh! I should introduce myself, my name is Shiva, I am the-" Shiva introduced herself only to be cut off by Callie.

"Leader if Team Iceheart...yeah I know who you are...nice win the other day."

Shiva smiled "Thank you. We try our hardest to succeed." turning her attention to Ekolu, Shiva continued "But back to my earlier question… you are Ember, correct?"

Ekolu's eyes widened "Oh…oh! Yeah that's me…wow bit weird to be called by my Turf War profile outside of a game." She said rubbing the back of her head sheepishly.

Shiva gave a small nod "Understandable...tell me, was that Leviathan you were just speaking with just then?"

Callie's eyes narrowed behind her shades not liking the accusatory tone of the question. Ekolu gave Shiva a confused look "Who? Naruko?"

"Yes…Naruko." Shiva said bitterly

"Yeah…why?"

Shiva walked closer to Ekolu "It's because a young and upcoming Ranked player like yourself should not associate with that…that _person._ " Shiva stated.

Ekolu froze, eyes wide and an anger bubbling in her gut. The hell was this girls problem?

"Just what the hell is that supposed to mean Shiva!" Callie growled out angrily.

Shiva gave Callie an annoyed glance "What I mean is that Naruko Uzumaki is a violent, untrustworthy brute who will only end up hurting you in the end. Much like she did to her former lover."

Callie looked even more pissed now "That was _proven_ to be a load of crap and you know it! Kalla admitted that the whole thing was a lie on live television you idiot!" Just who the hell did Shiva think she was talking shit about people behind their backs like this? Despite the current situation between them there was no way in hell she would let this..this _bitch_ talk shit about Naruko like this.

Shiva looked unimpressed "Oh please, that brute most likely threatened the poor woman. Trust me it is _exactly_ what she would do. And besides that point, if what was said is indeed untrue. Than why has Marie not stated as such? The reason is obviously that Naruko was indeed abusive to both her and Callie!"

"And how would you know that!"

Shiva rolled her eyes dismissively "I have known her from when the two of us were just starting out, that was _four years ago_. I think I know her well enough."

Callie scoffed at Shiva, she didn't know Naruko at all. In all of their years doing Turf War, Shiva had rebuffed Naruko every time she offered her friendship. She didn't want to be friends with her _rival_ after all. It was pathetic to be honest.

"Deny it all you want. You know deep down that Naruko is a violent, self serving bitch who cares for nothing but h-"

 ***Smack***

Shiva's head turned violently to its side as Callie slapped her across the face. An angry red hand print now marred the shorter girls face.

" _You shut your fucking mouth right now!"_ Callie shouted infuriated. How dare she… _how fucking dare she ever insinuate this absolute fucking rubbish._

"You…you struck me." Shiva whispered in shock her hand gently clutching her face.

"And I'll do a lot fucking worse if you don't shut your damn mouth!" Callie roared as Ekolu tried to hold her back.

Glaring at the disguised pop star the shorter girl went to retaliate only for a hand to grasp her by the shoulder rather firmly. Shiva didn't need to look behind herself to know just who had grabbed her shoulder.

"Ysayle, if you ever take my advice once in your natural life take it now…Walk. Away." Naruko said as she gripped the shorter girls shoulder tightly.

"N-Naruko!? How..ah..how much did you hear?" Shiva said fearfully as Naruko's Azure eyes peered into her ice blue ones.

"From about the time you and her started arguing." Naruko said as she motioned to Callie.

 _'Oh…oh dear.'_ Shiva thought as she closed her eyes, accepting the fact that Naruko was likely going to either punch her or throw her halfway across the Plaza.

Rolling her eyes Naruko let out an exasperated sigh "Calm down Snowflake, I ain't gonna hurt ya."

"You _are_ hurting me!" Shiva winced as Naruko's grip tightened slightly.

"What this?" Naruko asked as she lessened her grip "Oh please, if I was gonna hurt you you'd know. Besides you should be thankful." She said with a grin.

Shiva had a confused look "For what? Stopping me from getting into a fight with that…that _hooligan_. I'll have you know that _she struck me first!_ " Shiva said angrily.

Naruko gave her a bored look "Yes actually. You should be thankful I stopped you," Naruko said as she grasped Shiva's chin with her free hand and turned her head to the left to where the Squid Sisters studio was "You see those two?"

Indeed there were two security guards glaring at her…at _her?_ …why?

"You see, those two take their jobs very seriously...the moment you would have went for a swing at my friend here..they would have rushed you and you'd be on the ground with either a concussion or a busted arm." Naruko explained while giving a friendly wave to said guards who nodded back.

It dawned to Shiva that she was in a really, _really_ bad situation _'O-ok…j-just apologise Ysayle… Wait...why were the guards going to rush me?'_

Naruko let go of Shiva and began to walk over to Ekolu and Callie "W-wait!"

"Hmm?"

"W-what do you mean by the security guards were going to intervene?"

Naruko let out a laugh "Oh god are you serious?" She laughed. Shiva glared at her, obviously not liking the mocking attitude.

"Hahaha, holy fuck! I don't hehe I don't know what's funnier." Naruko chuckled "The fact that you are still harping on about what a terrible person I am. Or the fact that you have no fucking idea who the person that just bitch slapped you is!"

Shiva's eyes narrowed slightly. What the heck did Naruko mean by that? What is so important about this _person?_

Naruko walked over to Callie and slung her arm around her shoulders "Go on, take a wild guess."

Shiva rolled her eyes "I honestly don't care who this hooligan is Naruko…if anything you probably paid her to start drama." yeah she wasn't falling for Naruko's games. Though to be honest that was the wrong answer as Naruko's face went from playful to annoyed in an instant.

"Now now Ysayle, that's not a nice thing to say about somebody you don't know."

Shiva scoffed "And? Like I care about your boorish, no good _friends._ Hell in all honesty the Squid Sisters likely only befriended you out of pity and…not..." She said as her eyes widened as Callie's tore her sunglasses from her face and glared at Shiva.

"What was that about me not being Naruko's friend?" She said angrily, her hand crushing(albeit unintentionally) the sunglasses that had previously been secured over her eyes.

"Now you're fucked." Naruko said from next to her.

"I…I..w-wha…" Shiva stuttered eyes wide with shock.

"Well _Ysayle?_ I'm waiting." Callie said angrily. Goddamn the absolute shit storm that was gonna happen after this. But it was all worth it, enough was enough she was not gonna hold her tongue any more.

"Newsflash for you _Shiva,_ the only reason Marie hasn't spoken out about that absolute fucking bull shit from earlier this month is the fact that she is a damn c-" A hand gently grasping Callie's arm stopped her "Cal…that's enough."

Callie looked to her side and saw it was Naruko who had stopped her. Taking a deep breath Callie calmed herself and walked over to Ekolu. However before she and Ekolu went their way she turned to the still frozen in shock Shiva.

"Just so you know. If what our bitch of a former Manager said was true, do you honestly think I would defend Naruko like this? Think on that…but then again I doubt you will, you're just like everyone else. Judge, judge, judge! And yet you know fucking nothing." Callie said as she pulled Ekolu towards the Valley entrance.

Naruko let out whistle ' _Man…bout time Callie showed some backbone… though that being said, her angry is more like an angry puppy…cute yet deceiving.'_ She was proud that Callie had finally decided to grow a spine(Not that they had bones to begin with). It didn't change the fact that Naruko was still pissed with her and Marie, but it _did_ feel nice that someone was defending her this time…that being said though, she was surprised that the argument had gone completely unnoticed by the crowds of people that flocked the Plaza.

Funnily enough, Naruko had lied about the security guards. Sure they _would_ have intervened…but if anything it would have been Callie that kicked Ysayle's ass…what? she _is_ an agent of the NSS after all.

Looking over at Shiva, Naruko frowned slightly. The shorter girl looked both shocked and like she was about to cry. Looking back to Callie and Ekolu who were walking further and further away, and then to Ysayle, Naruko let out a sigh and walked over to her.

"*sigh* C'mon…let's go get a drink" Naruko said as she grabbed Ysayle's arm and gently pulled her to the cafe.

 _'I swear, I am way too nice at times.'_

 **-A few minutes later-**

Both Naruko and Ysayle where seated at one of the booths, an awkward silence filled the air around them.

Naruko gently grasped her coffee and took a sip. "Ahh…that's good coffee. Smooth and not too bitter, perfect."

Ysayle refused to make eye contact with Naruko as she sipped her tea. Well…this was bound to be an Interestingly awkward conversation.

"Why are we here?" Ysayle asked not looking up from her tea. Naruko let out a sigh(man she's been doing that a lot lately) "Because we need to talk…that and you looked like you were about to start bawling your eyes out, so I figured I'd save you the embarrassment.". Ysayle looked up from her beverage and gave Naruko a small glare, her eyes were slightly red from when she _did_ start crying shortly after they sat down.

"I just got slapped and then ripped a new one by one of my favourite musicians...pretty s-"

"And who's fault is that?"

Ysayle looked away in shame Naruko had a point _she did_ start it.

" _I'm sorry…_ "

Naruko gave Ysayle a confused look "What?"

Ysayle looked back at Naruko her eyes glimmer slightly with tears, whether it was out of embarrassment or something else remained to be seen "I…I'm sorry Naruko...that's what you want isn't it?"

Naruko shook her head, "An apology means nothing if you don't truly mean it."

"I-I do!" Ysayle argued but Naruko wasn't having it "We both know you only feel bad because Callie slapped you and then proceeded to tear into you." She said flatly causing Ysayle to look down sadly.

"T-then tell me your side of the story! Tell me why Marie never spoke out against the accusations….. _please_." Ysayle begged.

"And why the hell would I do that!? What so you can just mock me? Or do just want some dirt on me to hold over my head at a later date?" Naruko stated angrily.

"N-no! Naruko you know that I would never do that! I'm not that k-kind of person!"

Naruko scoffed "Oh and why now all of a sudden do you want to hear my side?"

Ysayle looked down again her shoulders shaking lightly "I…I.."

"You know what? Forget it I honestly don't give two s-"

"I want my friend back!" She said as she lifted her head. Tears streaming down her cheeks.

Naruko leant back slightly her anger fading into shock _'Friend? Since when has she ever…'_ Naruko was about to inquire what she meant but Ysayle wasn't finished yet.

"I know what your thinking Naruko. Since when have we been friends?...to tell you the truth…I..I've always seen you as such, but me being the damn prideful idiot I am have always pushed you away…and when the accusations came to light I thought that I was right to do so…but Callie had a point, _I know nothing._ I want…I need to know what happened from your perspective…I need to know so I can make things right!" Ysayle cried.

The booth was silent for a few moments after her outburst Ysayle's heart sank at the lack of answer _'I..I guess I pushed too far, I should have just kept my mouth shut earlier but no…I just had to lose my temper and make a fool of myself.'_ She thought sadly as she lowered her head. She had really messed up this time, hell she had originally planned to talk with Ekolu about Naruko, to perhaps pass on a message(because god's know that deep down she is a somewhat self conscious wuss that was prone to figuratively putting her foot in her mouth when she was panicked or was anxious.)…but that had somehow turned into her telling the younger girl to avoid her, that was the complete opposite of what she had intended.

Her thoughts however were interrupted by a soft chuckle coming from Naruko. Raising her head once more she looked over to Naruko who was laughing softly into her fist.

"Hehehe who woulda thought that under Hehehe…underneath that cold, sensible persona was the overly emotional crybaby that I remember." Naruko laughed out.

"S-shut up!" Ysayle yelled only to make Naruko laugh harder. The shorter of the two resorted to kicking Naruko under the table to silence her "Ok ow ok. You win, I'll stop." Naruko said in faux pain.

The moment however was interrupted.

"Two house specials with whipped cream and strawberry sauce!" A short Inkling girl said from next to them as she placed their food on the table. Naruko gave the waitress a discrete glance, the girl couldn't have been over sixteen...a little bit strange that she was working at a cafe instead of playing Turf War.

"Thanks." the younger girl gave Naruko a bright smile and went on her way. Naruko noticed Ysayle's eyes followed the younger girl as she walked away, curiously Naruko turned slightly to see what Ysayle was staring at a moment later a sly grin made its way to Naruko's face.

Looking back to her…friend? She noticed she had a slightly glazed look in her eyes and a faint blush on her cheeks,

"Y'know Ysayle, Your food is gonna go cold if you keep staring at that waitresses ass...though she does have a great one." Naruko said cheekily.

Ysayle's face flushed bright red at being caught causing Naruko to burst out laughing yet again.

"Hahaha, goddamn Ysayle never change...anyway eat up, after breakfast we'll go to my place and have a proper talk." Naruko said as she cut into her pancakes.

Ysayle nodded and followed suit, hey at least she was getting a free breakfast.

* * *

 **-Meanwhile-**

 **(** **Cuttlefish Cabin)**

 **Training room(The basement)**

"HRAAH!"

Ekolu watched in fascination as Callie launched a punching bag across the room and into a small pile of bags that had met a similar fate.

You see. Shortly after they had returned Callie had stormed off to the basement to 'Blow of steam' as she put it, leaving the tour to the sickly looking(and feeling) Marie who had decided to show her only three rooms before ditching her in the basement in favour of lying down.

This left Ekolu to watch Callie decimate these poor, poor punching bags.

Callie let out a sigh as she dusted her hands on her legs "Haaa…my arms hurt now." She groaned as she rubbed her left arm gently before stretching slightly. Ekolu blushed at the sight _'Damn it Eko don't stare! She'll think your a weirdo!'_ She thought to herself as she averted her gaze from Callie. Why you ask?

Well the fact that Callie wasn't in her incognito outfit anymore but instead wearing a black and pink sports bra with a matching pair of workout pants was one of the reasons.

The other reason is that Callie was surprisingly fit underneath her Idol outfit…and Ekolu may or may not have a _slight_ thing for fit girls with nice butt's and. ...why was Callie giving her that sly look?

Ekolu's face morphed to one of shock and mortification…

She said that out loud didn't she?

Ooh god she did…welp might as well die of embarrassment. Ekolu started stuttering and panicking.

"Oh my god, you are so cute!" Callie squealed as she hugged the younger girl and unintentionally(not) pushed her face into her bust.

 _' not responding…reboot in 3..2..1...reboot failed.'_ as Ekolu's brain continued to short circuit she didn't realise Callie had begun to lead her to another room.

About a few minutes and after her brain started working again Ekolu realised she was now sitting in what appeared to be a locker room of sorts.

"Oh hey you're back to normal." Ekolu turned her head and instantly her face flushed a bright red.

Callie was standing in the doorway of what she assumed was the showers and was clad only in a towel and appeared to be fresh out of said shower.

"I...I...wha...you?" Ekolu sputtered completely red faced much to Callie's amusement. "What? Never seen a girl in a towel before?" She teased as her long tentacles gently swayed slightly…wow they were longer than they looked.

Walking over to one of the lockers, Callie opened it and reached in withdrawing a second towel. "Here catch." She said as she threw the towel to Ekolu much to her confusion.

Looking at the towel and then at Callie then back to the towel Ekolu gave a confused sound. Rolling her eyes Callie walked over to Ekolu.

"You kinda smell kiddo. So you should probably wash up while you have the chance…and yes there are separate stalls." She finished seeing the self-conscious look in Ekolu's eyes.

"Where…where do I put my clothes?"

Callie pointed to a washing machine on the other side of the room "Just toss them in that."

Ekolu nodded her head and proceeded to get her shower ready. Callie was right she was beginning to smell a bit…ripe. Not that it was her fault, she _has_ been busy with Zapfish duty.

"Oh. And when your done, there is an indoor onsen down the hall and to the left…feel free to join me if you want." Callie explained as she walked out the door…

"Wait, what?" Ekolu inquired confused causing Callie to giggle lightly "Well…we _are_ from Calamari County. So of course Gramps insured we have one...a nice hot bath after a long day is _so amazing._ " She said with a smile before she walked off.

Seriously? A fully stocked gym/training room, a locker room with showers _AND an indoor onsen!?_ What next a damn swimming pool?

 _'Huh…I wonder if there is a pool…wait why would I care? I can't swim..'_ Ah yes one of her greatest weaknesses…next to fit girls with nice butt's of course, _swimming…_ you'd think an Inkling from where she was from would know how to..but not her, no no no In fact quite the opposite.

She was petrified of swimming…and for good reason too...after all…it was how.. _'No..no I am not thinking about that!'_

Ekolu shook those thoughts from her mind as she stepped into the shower.

 **-15 minutes later-**

 _'Oooh… this was a mistake!'_ Ekolu thought as she stared down into the water. Why did she do this? She was socially inept as is…SO WHY THE HELL DID SHE TAKE CALLIE UP ON HER OFFER!?

Next to her was a completely naked Callie who was leaning back against the edge of the large bath. Ekolu herself was also nude but unlike Callie(Who just kept looking at her and giggling) she was almost fully submerged in the hot water.

"Don't know why you're acting so odd…we're both girls, so you have nothing I haven't seen before ya know." Callie said in a matter of fact tone…though she did have an almost teasing undertone to her voice.

Yeah but Callie is a goddamn pop star(with a great body mind you) while she was just an average Inkling girl that was somewhat good at Turf War…that being said, by no means was Ekolu body conscious(slight lie). Far from it in fact(again slightly lying) …she was just kinda shy is all…yeah just _kinda not completely and utterly hopeless in any form of social interaction outside of online games._

"You talk to yourself a lot, ya know that?" Callie said teasingly.

Oh great she was unintentionally monologuing again...well at least it couldn't get worse…right?

"I had a feeling you dragged the poor girl off into here." A voice came from the door… _oh no._

"Ah finally recovered from your upset stomach I see." Callie said teasingly

"Oh shut it Cal…scooch over." Marie said as she walked over to the bath

 _'Keep your head down, don't look, keep your head down, don't l-'_

She looked.

And she instantly regretted it. As at that moment Marie had removed her towel and Ekolu got quite an eye full. Causing her to flush a bright red and to let out an embarrassed squeak.

Rolling her eyes Marie gently stepped into the water "What's with you?"

Ekolu started stammering and sputtering completely unable to form a cohesive sentence.

"I think she isn't used to seeing others naked." Marie said matter of factly as she sat down between Ekolu and Callie.

"Gee ya think Marie."

"Or it could be that fan or not, most people her age would _kill_ to be in her position."

Callie nodded her head in agreement

"Y-you two are w-way to comfortable with this!" Ekolu shouted getting odd look from the Squid Sisters.

"Well when you've lived with someone who tends to walk around the apartment naked half the time, I guess you just get used to it." Callie said

Wait what?

"Huh?" Ekolu responded dumbly

"Oh! Not me or Marie of course. Last time I did that Marie smacked me across the butt with a broom. And Marie is to much of a prude to do that. I'm talking about Naruko."

Again...what?

 _'Just what the hell have I gotten myself into.'_ Ekolu thought to herself as she watched Marie put Callie into a headlock for talking about private stuff like that.

Ekolu had a feeling things were only gonna get weirder.

* * *

 **Aaaaand donezo see you all when I'm done with Shadowbringers!**

 **Four: But I wanna see what happens next!**

 **Eight: Yeah!**

 **Four: C'mon Silv, you** _ **just**_ **did a scene with Ekolu, Callie and Marie in an onsen…and you're ending there…with no shenanigans!?**

 **Silvanium: Well yeah…and?**

 **Callie: I remember when Ekolu was an antisocial cutie…now she is the edgy little sister if the group.**

 **Ekolu: Coming from the girl that went through a goth phase and wrote a lot of angsty, edgy and cringy as fuck poems?**

 **Callie: Who told you that!?**

 **Ekolu: Nunya**

 **Callie: Huh? What's that?**

 **Ekolu: None ya fucking business.**

 **Callie: That's it! Get here ya little shit!**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **Welp that's a rap for now, hopefully I will have the time to update soon, oh and here's a fun little bit of information for you. I may or may not have introduced Four at some point in either this chapter or last chapter..Feel free to guess…and with that said,**

 **TEAM CHAOS, BITCHES!**


	8. A Storm on the Horizon

**Enjoy the new chapter folk's….**

 **Pearl: Fuck yeah! Chaos reigns!**

 **Marina: We get it Pearlie…please hop down from the table, we eat there….and put your pants back on.**

 **Pearl: Never!**

 **Naruko: Onward unto Chaos!**

 **Callie: Enjoy!**

 _ **-Aha…yeah, first things first. I may of added a bit of an info dump in this chapter. Honestly I feel I revealed too much to soon, but rewriting that part would have taken a bit and it would have knocked over 1000 words of the chapter so I kept it in…so, sorry if it seems out of place. And other than that, this chapter does go in a bit of a…weird direction, I dunno something feels off about it so I may or may not end up rewriting part of it-**_

 **Also, before we begin, I'd like to apologise for the late chapter.**

* * *

It has been a long few days since Ekolu was formally inducted into the NSS, a long few days indeed.

First off, Naruko had the younger girl do some basic tests(fitness, weapon safety and such.) to see if she was fully capable of more field work. Most of which Ekolu had done decently but not great so Naruko took it upon herself to train the younger girl to prepare her for more difficult situations and to teach her the ins and outs of Multivariable Pressure(MV) Weapons aka the Hero Weapons, or in other words the prototype Hero Shot that the Captain had given Ekolu to use…not that it was a fully tested weapon that a _goddamn rookie should NOT be using!_ (Something that Naruko had ranted about for over an hour).

And then there was the fact that for some reason, Marie had begun to act rather bitter and mean to the younger girl in recent days. When asked about it Marie gave half answers or just ignored them entirely. This ended up causing the rift between her and Naruko to widen, which in turn only made Marie's mood worse. Ekolu however has not stopped in her attempts at befriending the older girl… she was just trying to be nice but Marie wasn't having any of it unlike Callie who got along with Ekolu quite well.

Following this was the fact that Naruko had been a lot more busy recently seeing as she was investigating a lead on the possibility of the Octarians developing a new Octo-Weapon. So most of her time was split with that and training Ekolu(Which is what Callie thinks is why Marie is acting like how she is. And if so it was extremely petty of her.)

And now?... Well…..

 **(Cuttlefish Cabin)**

 **-1:00 am-**

 _'As if I didn't feel guilty enough.'_ Callie thought as she looked at Ekolu who was curled up next to her on the couch.

Callie had decided to stay at the cabin tonight. Mainly because she had promised Naruko that she would go on patrol with Ekolu again tomorrow seeing as she was away on a mission and will likely not be back for another day or so. However the night hadn't exactly gone as she had thought it would…well actually that was an underestimate, sure she had a feeling that it was going to be an interesting night. Especially seeing as the younger girl was so easy(and fun) to embarrass.

What Callie didn't expect, however, was to be woken up in the middle of the night to Ekolu screaming in fear at some unseen assailant. To which Callie rushed into the bedroom thinking she was being attacked only to find her curled up sobbing...to say it was a bad time would be an underestimate.

Ekolu shifted slightly before nuzzling against Callie's side. The younger girl had her eyes closed and was breathing softly, indicating she was sleeping. Callie honestly wished that Naruko had informed her of Ekolu's…situation, especially seeing as it took the younger girl some time to completely calm down.

And by that she meant the fact that the younger girl had semi-frequent nightmares as a result of what happened the night of the Zapfish theft, suffice to say she was going to have words with Naruko for not informing her. But in all honesty though, it reminded Callie somewhat of how Naruko was during the first year of her joining their family…the nightmares, Naruko waking up in the middle of the night screaming or the panic attacks that happened at seemingly random intervals on a semi-frequent occasion, and honestly, it made Callie feel like absolute scum due to herself being part of the reason Ekolu was now suffering like that.

Hell now that she thought about it after all these years had no clue as to the full details of just what Naruko went through as a child, not that it was any of her business and all. Callie respected that fact to this day so she never brought it up…though it did nag at her occasionally.

 _'Though, I honestly don't blame Naruko…especially with how bad shape she was in when Marie brought her home…'_ Callie thought as she remembered that day,

 **(Flashback)**

"Aha! Got you now!" Callie said triumphantly as she played a game on her DS. She had been stuck on the third Gym in Pokemon Diamond for the last few days and she had finally managed to win.

"Sweet now I can show Marie that I _AM_ good at Pokemon…where is she anyway?" Callie murmured to herself as she lowered her game in thought. Marie said she was going for a walk near the lake and that she would be back before lunch, Callie had no clue why her cousin wanted to go walking in the cold…then again Grandpa _did_ take them camping in the middle of winter…well not really, they _are_ currently staying at a cozy little cabin at the Mount Nantai campgrounds instead of in a tent. And there was the fact that there was this super neat flower patch near the lake, Callie and Marie had no idea how the flowers were blooming through the snow but they both agreed it was pretty so maybe that's where Marie had went.

 ***Bang* *Bang***

 _"Callie! Gramps! Open the dooooor!"_ a panicked voice shouted from outside.

Callie put her DS on the couch and hurried as fast as her small legs could to the back door "Marie your-" Callie froze, her eyes widening in shock/horror at the sight in front of her.

On the left was her cousin who was dressed in a thick jacket and long pants finished with a small pair of boots with a panicked expression on her face…

And on the right was a completely unknown Inkling girl who was dressed in what looked like something a person in hospital would wear. She had short red tentacles(They looked as if someone had hacked at them with a knife) and am almost blank look in her eyes…

Though that wasn't what made Callie look at her in horror…no it was the fact that the girls hands and were covered in what looked like dried blood and the fact that some other parts of her body I.e her head, and torso also had blood on them didn't help, but not only that, there was an odd dried green substance on the front of her and around her mouth and neck.

Callie reacted like any seven year old would…

" **AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!** "

 **(Flashback end)**

Thinking back on it, her screaming like that probably scared Naruko more then she was scared of her.

Shaking her head Callie shifted to a more comfortable position as her eyes began to droop.

"I wonder *Yawn* I wonder what Naru is doing?" She murmured as she drifted to sleep.

 **(Residential Dome #86, outer edges.)**

 **-1:45 am-**

Within a small house on the outer edge of the dome was Naruko(In her agent gear) who was seated at a small table across from her was an elderly Octoling man.

"Are you sure that all of this is correct?" Naruko asked in Octonese as she looked over the file she had been given. Said file being precise details on the security at Facility H and a general floor plan of the facility, Naruko wanted to be sure of the validity of the information.

"Of course child. Everything from the security system, to the amount of on staff guards." The elder spoke.

Naruko read through the documents "So the sewer is gonna be my best bet?"

"Yeah. I considered trying to get you a key card, but that would have raised a few questions…so this is the best I could do." An Octoling woman spoke from the side of the table.

The Octoling in question was an Elite from her appearance, she was currently wearing her civilian clothes but she had her weapon and other clear indicators of her rank on her person, her name..or really her alias was Nova. She was a member of the Wasabi Replenishment Unit…but her true loyalty was with a small group that wanted to make a break for the surface, something that Naruko had promised to help them with if they could get her Intel on the Facility.

"Fair enough. So what am I looking at in the sewer? Live patrols or automated defenses?"

"Neither."

Naruko stopped for a moment "Your kidding me right?" Octavio couldn't be that arrogant…right?

Nova shook her head "No…no far worse in fact...Salmonids." she said with a small shudder.

Naruko scoffed "Sure, Salmonids can be a threat in numbers but not if your prepared." seriously Salmonids? Fucking Salmonids!?

Nova didn't look impressed "You do realise that underground Salmonids are far _far_ worse than the surface verity...as in they would not hesitate to tear you limb from limb and devour your remains." She chided almost disappointedly.

Naruko nodded her head "Then I'll take extra precautions when I'm down there…anything else I should know?"

Nova moved over to the Facilities map "There are guard posts here, here and here." she said pointing at three locations on the map "The main power center is here, don't take the Zapfish though…it's been there for well over fifty years and it powers the water purification system that is located in Facility H, and if that goes, then the whole dome loses clean drinking water so it isn't one of the stolen ones."

Naruko nodded in agreement she wouldn't take what wasn't stolen from Inkopolis.

For the next hour Nova explained the finer details of the Facility and its staff. There would be approximately seventy-eight people on duty for the next few weeks or until the situation(Agent 3) in the Valley was dealt with, so Naruko had a fair amount of time to get her affairs in order before infiltrating Facility H.

"Alright then I suppose I should head back to HQ and get my gear in order and inform the Captain. I will inform you a few days before I am going to commence the mission so you and yours can be ready." Naruko said as she gathered up the files on the Facility.

The Elder Octoling gave a curt nod "That's fine. Nova could you please escort Agent 0 back to the Canyon…oh and give my regards to Craig when you return."

Naruko have a slight nod and began to follow Nova to the door "Oh and remind that old bastard that he still owes me 2000C from that Poker game one hundred years ago."

 **(Octo Canyon)**

 **-3:00 am-**

Nova and Naruko had entered the Kettle and made their way to the Canyon in complete silence, mostly because they didn't want to be caught by any lingering patrols and such but mainly because they had nothing to talk about.

However once they reached the surface Nova couldn't help but ask a question.

"Why are you helping us? None of it adds up."

Naruko let out a small laugh "Aha! You _do_ speak Inklish...anyway do I need an excuse to do the right thing?" she said leaning against a wall.

"But why! By the gods, you know I was part of the team that stole the Zapfish! You know this, yet still you want to help us? It doesn't make sense!" Nova yelled. Sure they were giving her vital information but she could have just forced them to hand it over but she didn't…she offered to help them reach the surface in exchange. None of it added up. Was she fucking with them? Was she just using them only to kill the lot of them when they are no longer of use?

Naruko looked at the panicking Elite with a sad smile "It's because I know that there are good Octolings that deserve a chance at a better life for themselves and their families...I learned this when I was only a child. And besides, we are _both_ taking a massive risk…for all I know this information could all just be a trap." She finished cheekily as she walked off leaving Nova completely stumped at Naruko's nonchalant attitude towards the possibility of this just being a ploy to ambush her.

 _'I completely get where you are coming from Nova, you are taking a huge risk by trusting me…'_ Naruko thought solemnly as she reached the Valley entrance. Nova was taking a massive risk in aiding her, but it was an understandable risk as the Octoling woman was doing it so her younger sister could have a better life. One where she didn't have to worry about electricity or food shortages.

A life where her sister could live freely, a life that she never had…Nova was willing to risk it all just for that chance.

Naruko stumbled slightly as a jolt of pain shot through her head,

 _"_ _I promise you Zero, we will get out of here..just a few more tests and I'll have won our freedom...heh my little sister is going to adore you, and I'm sure mum will be fine with you living with us..despite being an Inkling and all_ _. "_

The pain subsided shortly afterwards _'Damn it…that is the third time this week. Why now of all times are these memories coming back to me?'_ Naruko thought with a frown. Ever since the break up Naruko had begun to have nightmares and random flashbacks of when she was younger. Sure having random flashbacks was bearable…but the nightmares?...

No…no they were something far, far worse.

 _'I…I wish I was strong enough to save you_ _Big sister_ _…I..'_

Shaking her head Naruko made her way to Inkopolis, this was no time for remembering the past…no it was time for work.

 **-A little bit later-**

A few minutes later Naruko has back at the cabin. _'*sigh* This was a long night, but at least I got the job done quickly…I wonder what Eko and Callie got up to?'_ She thought as she entered the small home.

Kicking her boots off at the door she made her way to the living room where an interesting scene met her.

On the couch was Callie and Ekolu…or really it was Callie who was laying flat on her back on the couch and Ekolu was curled up on top of her with one of Callie's arms wrapped around the younger girl, both of them sound asleep it was…cute… albeit kinda uncomfortable looking but cute nonetheless.

Shaking her head Naruko softly walked over to the sleeping duo. She gently removed Callie's arm from around Ekolu and then proceeded to gently rolled Ekolu onto her back and then began to lift her off Callie.

After adjusting herself Naruko made her way to the bedroom with Ekolu in her arms, unknown to Naruko however was the fact that Callie had woken up the moment Naruko has begun to pick up Ekolu.

Sitting up on the couch, Callie rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and stretched slightly she winced slightly as her lower back pinched "Yeah…that's what I get for sleeping on the couch." She murmured tiredly. Slowly rising from the couch Callie made her way to the kitchen to get a drink before going to bed properly.

"Oof"

Only for her to bump into Naruko on her way out of the kitchen and to fall on her rear… or really she would have, had Naruko not grabbed the sleepy Inkling before she lost her balance completely.

"Watch where your walking sleepyhead."

Callie ignored her in favour of latching onto Naruko and cuddling up against her, something that if she wasn't half asleep she would not even attempt due to the current circumstances. But she was half asleep at the moment so her tired mind thought it would be a good idea.

"Do you mind?"

No answer,

"Gods, Callie you are such a child at times…really let go would you. I want to have a shower then go to bed."

Naruko's eye twitched at the lack of answer, letting out a deep sigh she moved her hand behind Callie "Cal, if you don't let go in ten seconds you _will_ regret it."

Callie nuzzled deeper into Naruko's neck.

"Ten,"

Silence

"Nine,"

More silence

"Eight,"

Callie shifted slightly before letting out a loud snore…yep she had fallen asleep…' _When the hell did she wrap her legs around me?'_ Naruko thought utterly baffled that Callie had done so without her noticing.

"Fuck it." Naruko raised her hand that was behind Callie and then brought it back down.. _hard_.

"OWCH!"

"I warned ya."

 **-Later that day-**

 **(Cuttlefish Cabin)**

 **-Morning-**

"And that's about it."

It had been a few hours since her trip to the dome and to say that Captain Cuttlefish was cross with her would be an underestimate.

"Naruko…are you out of your mind!" The Captain raged. Yeah Naruko saw this coming a mile away.

"The Octarians can not be trusted! Why on earth would you-"

"So you're saying Takoyai is untrustworthy? You know…the guy who saved your life both before and during the war." Naruko stated.

The Captain let out a tired sigh "No..no I trust Tak, it's the others that I don't. You said one of them is an Octoling Elite correct?"

Naruko nodded her head "Yeah, she goes by Nova. She's the one who got me the Intel…in return for my help. I think she is Takoyai's granddaughter or something, so if he says she can be trusted then she can be trusted." Naruko explained to the Captain.

"Are you fucking stupid Naruko?" Marie chimed in "An Octoling Elite? One that is part of Octavio's support squad. You are seriously going to trust one of them? Fuck and you say Callie and I have no common sense." In her opinion this was a terrible idea. Why the hell would Naruko even consider it?

"I trust her more than I trust you at the moment." Naruko retorted,

"The hell is that supposed to mean!?" Marie yelled back with a hurt expression.

"You know damn well what! So how about you go on back to Inkopolis and leave the agent work to the ones who _actually give a damn!_ "

Marie recoiled as If struck, it was at that point Ekolu knew that this was not going to end well so she decided to move from the kitchen to the living room. On her way out she vaguely heard the Captain mention he was going to the city for something, but she wasn't paying too much attention.

Entering the living room room she found Callie laying face down on the couch with an ice pack resting on her rear.

"Let me guess. Marie just _had_ to open her mouth." Callie said not looking up from her position.

"Pretty much."

Callie let out an annoyed groan as she pushed herself up into a sitting position and reached out to her phone which was resting on the coffee table "Every damn time those two are in the same room now it always ends in an argument. Every time!"

Ekolu nodded her head in agreement, recently it seemed that every time both Naruko and Marie were in the same room they always found something to argue over…though most of the time is was Marie who instigates it. However Ekolu _has_ noticed that Marie only _really_ starts after Naruko and herself either finished training or were just hanging out, it didn't take a genius to see that Marie didn't like her…not that Ekolu knew why, it's not like she's wronged the older girl in anyway…has she?

"I know what you're thinking Eko. Don't worry about it, Marie is just being her usual bitchy self. Trust me she'll warm up to you ev-"

 _"The fuck did you just say!"_

Both Callie and Ekolu froze and looked towards the kitchen,

 _"You heard me Naruko. That brat should never have become an Agent!"_

A hurt look crossed Ekolu's face.

 _"And who's fucking fault is it that she got dragged into this!? Oh wait that's right! You and Callie!"_

Ekolu and Callie looked at each other "Do you think we should stop them?"

Callie gave a nod "Y-yeah before it gets worse…wait wasn't Gramps still in the kitchen?"

Ekolu shook her head negatively "No he said he needed to see someone in Inkopolis and left out the back, I think he-"

 _"Face it Naruko, you are the reason she got dragged into this shit. If you made sure that infiltrator was dead, she would have never had to save your sorry ass! Fucking hell, you are as much a failure as an Agent as you were a girlfriend!"_

Callie's phone fell from her hand, a look of shock and horror on her face while Ekolu just looked angry.

Callie couldn't comprehend the absolute insanity that she just heard _'W-what the fuck? What the fuck did Marie just say!?'_ Marie couldn't be _that_ dumb right…she misheard her... _right?_

 _"N-Naruko...fuck I…I'm sorry I didn't mean it I…"_

Nope she didn't…..

Fuck.

 _"Naruko… look I didn't…oh… oh fuck!"_

Marie backed out of the kitchen a look of fear etched into her face "N-Naruko calm d-down…please! You know I didn't mean it!"

Following shortly after was a very, _very_ pissed off Naruko.

 _'Oh shit, red eyes! RED EYES!'_ Callie thought as she remembered the last time Naruko's eyes went this colour, there was no way in hell she was stepping in this time. Marie had yet again crossed the line and Callie wasn't gonna take a hit like that again…no this was Marie's issue to deal with, and as cruel as it seemed, this time she _really_ had it coming.

" **C** a **re t** o re **pea** t **th** at?" Naruko said in a semi-distorted, rage filled voice, yeah it was exactly like the last time.

"Please…please calm down! You know I didn't mean it!" Marie had moved around the coffee table and had her back to the front door.

Naruko walked forward but bumped into the coffee table. Looking down with a snarl Naruko grasped one side of the table.

Callie's eyes widened before she lunged out and wrapped her arms around Ekolu who was frozen in place and then pulled her onto the couch just moments before the coffee table went flying across the room exactly in the direction that Ekolu had just been standing.

With nothing blocking her way Naruko lunged at Marie and went for a right hook, but unlike last time Marie was expecting it and swiftly ducked out of the way causing Naruko to miss her and hit the solid oak door.

 ***** _ **Crunch**_ *****

A sickening crunch came from Naruko's hand, signaling that she likely broke the cartilage in her hand.

 **"Argh! Fucking hell!"**

Naruko pivoted and swung out her left hand catching Marie with a glancing strike to the ribs,

"Ah!" the blow however had enough force to send her to her knees to which Naruko followed up with a knee to the face, knocking Marie onto her back.

Callie and Ekolu watched on as Naruko grasped her damaged fingers, realising what Naruko was about to do Callie hastily covered Ekolu's eyes.

With a grunt of pain, Naruko snapped her fingers back into place and allowed her healing factor to take effect. Naruko winced slightly when she gave the bruised hand a slight flex, it would take a few minutes to properly heal.

Turning her attention to Marie, who had backed up on the ground and was now pressed against the wall dividing the living room from the rest of the cabin.

Marie was looking at her with a fearful pleading look, black-blue blood flowing freely from her nose..the result of Naruko's knee colliding with her face.

 **"Now…where was I."** Naruko said menacingly as she stalked towards Marie, an insane glint faintly shone in Naruko's eyes as she neared the downed girl.

Marie closed her eyes and accepted her fate, this was only going to end one way...better to get it over and done with. Though she really, _really_ hoped that Naruko wouldn't go too far.

 _ ***Thump***_

 _'Huh?'_ Marie opened her eyes. Shock slowly passed through her.

A few feet in front of her Naruko had collapsed to her knees and was clutching her head in pain.

Naruko began to tremble and Marie tried to back up a little. _'W-what's happening?'_

 _ **"N**_ _o…n_ _ **o I wi**_ _ll_ _ **n**_ _o_ _ **t,**_ _"_

Marie slowly pushed herself forward "N-Naruko…are..are you alright?" she asked.

Something was wrong…something was very, very wrong. Looking towards Callie she saw that her cousin was staring at Naruko with concern and had a vice grip around Ekolu's torso keeping her in place. Though not for lack of trying on Ekolu's part as she attempted to wiggle out of Callie's grip so she could help Naruko.

" **Ng** h.. _g_ _ **et o**_ _u_ _ **t…ge**_ _t out of_ _ **my h**_ _e_ _ **a**_ _d._ " Naruko growled.

Naruko slowly climbed to her feet…only to collapse, her eyes widening in agony as they shifted between red and blue.

"Ngh... **ngh….**!"

A scream of absolute agony tore from Naruko's throat as she fell into the fetal position clutching her head.

Marie's eyes widened and without thinking she scrambled over to Naruko, only to get flung clear across the room when Naruko's arm shot out on reflex when Marie touched her.

And then all Naruko knew was nothingness.

 **-Later-**

"Ahh!" Naruko yelled as she shot up.

 _'Where…where am I?'_ She thought as she looked around the room.

It was dark, likely because it was nighttime. And she was lying, now sitting up slightly on a bed.

 _'Am..am I still at the cabin?"_

Pushing herself off the bed Naruko shakily stood up "God's…I feel so shit." she groaned as she slowly made her way to the door. However, before she could take a step a searing pain shot through her head causing her to stumble and fall back onto the bed.

"O-ok...on second thought, I think I should get more sleep." She said holding her head in pain. Perhaps some more sleep _would_ help.

 _'I'll…I'll sort this all out tomorrow…'_ Naruko thought as she drifted back into sleep.

 _ **(Dream)**_

 _"_ _Oh..now that's just too bad…_ _"_

 _Naruko opened her eyes only to shut them tightly as a bright light invaded her vision._

 _"_ _All of that effort…only to meet her end. Tsk Tsk, that is such a shame. Wouldn't you agree Head Overseer?_ _" A woman's voice said sadistically_

 _That voice...it sounded familiar,_

 _"_ _Indeed. Truly, Subject 808 was an exemplary subject…it is a shame that she formed such an attachment to Subject 0. It made her weak. Exploitable to the last…a fool, just like her mother._ _" Another female voice responded disdainfully._

 _That voice…where had she heard that voice before?_

 _"_ _Oh! Trying to feign sleep Subject 0? Now now, that won't do at all._ _" The sadistic voice spoke._

 _Suddenly Naruko felt a hand grasping her by the throat and lifting her. It was that moment Naruko realised she was small, very small...almost…childlike._

 _'No! Nonononono!' Naruko thrashed in the sadistic voiced woman's grip. The realisation of what was happening began to sink in._

 _"_ _Hahaha! Look at her squirm. Like a fish outta water!_ _" The sadistic voice laughed._

 _"_ _Yes yes, very funny. Bring young 0 to the chamber will you. It's time she sees what happens to those who dare go against the will and charity of the Commander._ _"_

 _Naruko continued to thrash around in an attempt to break free from the woman's grip, but to no avail, she did not have the strength._

 _Naruko opened her eyes and looked at the woman who was dragging her,_

 _She was a young looking Octoling woman, she had a pale complexion and had short toxic green colored tentacles. She was also of average height(5'8) and was dressed in what appeared to be an off white lab coat that was slightly armored._

 _"_ _Here ya go boss._ _" The Sadistic One said as she dumped Naruko on the ground in front of the machine that 808 had met her end in._

 _"_ _Are you afraid little one?_ _" The Overseer spoke "_ _Well fear not, unlike 808, you shall not be meeting your end today. No..this is just a lesson…a lesson to show you what happens to those who dare go against the will of Kamabo!_ _" She said pressing a key pad on the machine._

 _The machine opened revealing the mechanism inside,_

 _The inside the machine dropped into a small, roughly two foot deep hole. The roof of the inside had a large pole and attached to said pole was eight blades that were covered in a dark green fluid…in fact the entire interior was covered in it._

 _Stepping into the entrance of the machine, the Overseer knelt down. The Sadistic One proceeded to drag Naruko over to the entrance as well. The fetid smell of death lingering in the stale air of the facility._

 _"_ _Truly, it is_ _a shame,_ _" The Overseer said as she reached down into the foul green sludge "_ _She resisted the sanitazation for so long…only to meet her end in such a..pitiful way._ _" She said as she pulled her hand up, her hand covered in the foul green mixture._

 _"_ _You however,_ _" She said not looking at Naruko "_ _You are special. No matter what we try, the sanitazation process refuses to work on you. Whether it be from your unnatural healing factor or perhaps you have very adaptive DNA, we. don't. know….it is quite…vexing._ _" The Overseer said angrily._

 _"_ _However,_ _" A cruel smile made its way to the Overseers face "_ _There is one…method we have yet to try._ _" She said._

 _The Overseer turned to her companion "_ _Hold her down._ _"_

 _The Sadistic One made a confused sound before gasping "_ _Are you going to do what I think you are?_ _"_

 _The Overseer didn't answer. Instead, she reached down once more and brought up a fistfull of the gory mixture._

 _A cruel smirk formed on the Sadistic Ones face as she proceeded to pin Naruko to the ground and held her head in place._

 _And then…darkness._

 _Naruko found she was now able to move freely again. However this did not grant her respite. She was no longer in the room with the machine. Instead she was now in what looked like a small living space._

 _'Please stop…make it stop.' She sobbed silently as she curled into the fetal position. This was the recurring nightmare…no..it was more…something…worse._

 _ ***Sob* Sob***_

 _Naruko shot up, eyes wide in fear._

 _ **-Fear, Bravely Second OST(skip the intro)-**_

 _'N-no..please no, not again!' Naruko thought as the sound of sobbing got louder._

 _ ***Sob***_

 _Naruko froze, the crying was coming from behind her._

 _Naruko turned slightly, her breath catching as she spies a figure hunched over in the corner crying._

 _It was an Octoling girl,_

 _She looked to be in her mid teens. She was dark skinned and had long dark purple tentacles that were tipped with a sickly pale green._

 _She was clad in the standard Octoling battle gear…however there were sickly green veins going up her exposed arms and torso._

 _ **"**_ _ **I'm sorry Mama…I'm sorry baby sister…I'm not coming home.**_ _ **"**_

 _It was 808…_

 _'No! Not again!' Naruko panicked as she slowly began to back away…however the moment she took a step back, 808's head twisted to a 180° angle with a sickening crunch. Her face had the same sickly green veins, only with a difference…_

 _Her eyes had been gouged out, leaving only bloody sockets._

 _ **"**_ _ **You….**_ _ **"**_ _She whispered._

 _ **"**_ _ **This is your fault! YOU KILLED ME!**_ _ **"**_ _808 roared as she bent into an unnatural angle and crawled towards Naruko making her back away in fear._

 _"N-no! Stay away!" Naruko screamed._

 _Or really she would have, but the words refused to come out._

 _808 snarled at Naruko before pouncing on her showing her mouth to be filled with unnaturally sharp rows of teeth._

 _ **"**_ _ **You have some of me in you Zero…it's only fair that I have some of you!**_ _ **"**_ _She roared as she brought her mouth down on Naruko's throat._

 _ **(Dream end)**_ _ **-Fear, Bravely Second OST, end-**_

Naruko shouted as she shot up from the bed. Her heart was racing as she her eyes darted around the room.

 _'I-It was just a dream'_ Naruko thought as she brought her knees up to her chest _"J-just a…a d-dream"_ She whispered, her shoulders shaking slightly.

 _*Click*_

Naruko's eyes darted to the door, her body tensing.

"H-hey…I heard shouting..a-are you okay?" It was Callie surprisingly. Honestly Naruko thought she would have been to afraid again after what happened earlier today.

"N-Naruko…a-are you crying?" Callie asked as she slowly closed the door.

Naruko looked up at her, causing Callie to gasp softly.

"Is…is this about earlier?"

Naruko shook her head negatively.

"Oh…good. Because as bad as it sounds, Marie _really_ had it coming this time." Callie said as she sat on the adjacent bed.

"In all honesty, she really did cross the line this time. Blaming you for what happened with Ekolu during the Zapfish theft…so don't feel bad about it."

Naruko just sat there silently.

Callie frowned slightly _'Hmm, why do I have a feeling this is more serious than it looks.'_ Sure Naruko was sitting across from her, teary eyed…but why? It obviously wasn't from the fight earlier.

"Look Naru…do you want me to get Gramps? Something is obviously bothering you and-"

"Don't!"

Callie jumped slightly,

"L-look Cal..you can't tell Gramps. He'll take me off the Facility H mission. And I'm the only chance Nova and her people have at a normal life." Naruko pleaded.

Okay now Callie _definitely_ knew something was up, Naruko _never_ begged…like ever.

"Then tell me. Please.. _please Naruko."_

Naruko stopped for a moment before letting out a sigh "I-if I tell you…you keep it between us, deal."

"I promise!" Callie beamed only for a pillow to smack her in the face " _Quiet down!"_ Naruko hissed.

Callie muffled out a small apology before removing the pillow.

"Do you remember when we were only children…like two or so years after Gramps adopted me?"

Callie nodded. Of course she remembered, how could she forget the first two years of Naruko being in their life. Naruko was so shy, so…innocent… and yet, there was something else. Something that Callie couldn't put her finger on…but what?

"Remember how I had those really _really_ bad nightmares for the first two years?"

That right! The nightmares.

Wait…. what did they have to do with this? "Yeah I remember. Despite how quiet you were during those years, whenever one of those nightmares happened it took hours for you to calm down…why?" Callie was confused, what did the nightmares(Gramps said they had something to do with PTSD…not that she or her cousin knew what that meant back then.) that Naruko used to have as a child have to do…with...

Callie's eyes widened _'She's not saying..'_

"And as I'm sure you know, the last month has been.. _stressful_ to say the least. From the breakup and those fucking rumours to the Zapfish theft." Naruko continued.

"A-and what I'm trying to say is…is…"

 _'No..no please don't say it,'_

"Ever since the Zapfish theft,"

 _'Anything. Anything but this!'_

"I've been having those same _fucking nightmares._ "

 _'No..'_

"Every fucking night! Without fail, the same fucking dreams."

Callie sat there in shock _'I…I have to tell Gramps.'_

But could she? Could she betray Naruko's trust like that? Sure it was clear as day that Naruko was beginning to unravel, she needs professional help…

But would that drive her further over the edge? Would her telling their grandfather what she just learned drive Naruko deeper into insanity?

She didn't know… _She didn't know._

"I don't know if I'm going crazy… o-or if I already am. Just… just please… Don't tell Gramps. I have to.. I _need_ to finish my mission." Naruko said softly.

Callie sat there silently processing what she learned. Letting out a soft sigh, she gave a small nod "Okay… I won't breathe a word of this to anyone. I.. I promise." She said softly.

"Thank you Cal."

She made the right choice right?

 _'I really hope you know what you're doing Naru… But if things get worse..I…no… No I can't take that risk, I'm sorry but I have to tell grandpa.'_

She just hoped that Naruko would understand.

 _She couldn't have been more wrong…_

 **-A few days later-**

 _ **February, 17th (the day before the infiltration)**_

Naruko was seated on the couch in the living room double checking the Intel. She had just finished contacting Takoyai and his people to double check that they were ready and was now doing a last minute read of the blueprints.

"Okay, so if I enter from _here._ I can follow the main line to the waste disposal section, not gonna smell great but it's better than going in topside or from the east end, if I remember correctly, Nova said a Salmonid nest is in that sector so I'm going to want to _avoid_ that mess. From there I can-"

"Do you have a minute lass?"

Naruko looked up from the documents,

"Yeah? What's up old man?"

Shaking his head slightly at his granddaughter's usual attitude he sat across from her.

"We need to talk." He said much to Naruko displeasure. She knew it was kinda rude but she _really_ had to get everything in order, but she decided to humour the elder Inkling.

"Look, if this is about what happened a few days ago I'll tell you what I said then. I'm not apologising." Naruko was sticking to her guns this time. Like hell she was going to apologise, why should she? Marie wanted to be a bitch(again) and say shit like that and what she _wasn't_ supposed to retort?

Sure her losing her temper and going berserk again probably wasn't the best move. But enough was enough. Either Marie shut up and made herself useful as well as stopping with the childish as fuck behaviour she displayed whenever Ekolu was around, or she could fuck off and let them focus on stopping the Octarians.

…Okay maybe a touch harsh, but could you blame Naruko? After all the shit that has happened in the last two months, anyone would be at their breaking point. And Naruko was no different she knew this.

"Yes and no," Captain Cuttlefish responded.

Naruko cocked an eyebrow _'What?'_

"Look Naruko, I…*sigh* I'm going to be honest with you child. I don't want you on this mission." He explained looking her in the eyes.

"Why?" Naruko responded in shock. Why does he want to pull the plug on the mission so late into…Naruko's eyes widened ' _Callie!'_

That fucking bitch! She promised! She promised to keep quiet, she trusted her! _Callie lied to her! She lied to her…_

"Judging by your face, I can assume you know why."

The Captain knew this would be hard on Naruko. But it has to be said, "Look Naruko.. I'm not going to stop y-"

Naruko exploded,

"T **HAT FUC** KIN **G** B **ITCH! I TRUSTED HER! I TRUSTED HER AND SHE STABBED ME IN THE BACK LIKE HER FUCKING COUSIN!"**

Oh dear… this wasn't good.

Letting out a sigh the Captain sat upright "I was really hoping that I was wrong… but I guess this just proves it," he said sadly.

Locking eyes with Naruko who was still ranting angrily he continued "So, mind explaining how you came to remanifest… Fray?"

Naruko stopped her infuriated ranting and gave the old man a soft look.. only for it to shift into a somewhat cocky one

" **Oh, is that all. Not a hello or how have you been? It has, after all, been eight years since she has been in such a state as to manifest myself, her** _ **Darkside**_ **so to speak."**

This was going to be one hell of a conversation, that's for sure.

"You haven't existed for nearly nine years, so why? Why have you come back!?" Craig said in anger.

Fray let out a laugh **"Oh!? Hahaha! Haven't existed he says, oh Gramps such a kidder."**

Fray gave Craig a condescending look **"After all,"**

 **"I am the dark residing in Naruko's heart. Her anger, her pain, her sorrow. I am everything she pushes away, I am the pain, the hurt she bottles up. I am the other side of the coin…I am the shadow of her frayed psyche."**

Looking Craig dead in the eye she continued **"I never left… simply remained dormant… Until that granddaughter of yours decided to** _ **break our heart!**_ **"** She spat.

 **"To think we actually loved that… that harlot."** She said mournfully.

"Hey! That is my granddaughter you are talking about!"

Fray gave Craig a blank look " **Would you prefer that I call her a** **whore** **?"** She said snidely.

"Don't call her that either!"

 **"Oh? You actually remember how to speak Octanese? Interesting.."**

Craig shook his head, it was clear as day that Fray was just trying to rile him up. Funny that. Fray knew exactly what buttons to press… though it made sense as she was essentially Naruko's other half.

 **" *Sigh* You** _ **really**_ **shouldn't have let on that Callie told you about her conversation with Naruko. In fact you should be thankful that I wrested control.. god's know that would have been a very,** _ **very**_ **bad situation."** Fray said as she leant back on the couch.

She wasn't wrong, Callie had promised Naruko that she would keep quiet.. but here they where. Just as she was beginning to trust Callie again, the idiot goes and does this. Hell she probably thought she was doing Naruko a favor. But no, no all she did was betray Naruko's trust.

And with the current state of Naruko's mind… well, it doesn't take a genius to see how that would have went.

"I'm not going to take Naruko off the mission..I just… I just wanted to know if she was alright."

Fray sat quietly,

"Don't blame Callie. She was only tryna look out for Naruko.. she's worried for her and-"

 **"Typical Callie, never thinking of the consequences. Always rushing ahead… I swear that girl has rocks for brains at times."**

Craig smiled softly at that. It was true that Callie could be a little…dim at times, kind of odd seeing as she was actually pretty smart.

 **"At least she isn't a self-serving bitch like Marie is. I swear she is exactly like her scumbag father."** Fray said as she looked over the infiltration details.

"She is _nothing_ like Alain! She has at least attempted to make things right." Craig retorted angrily. Sure Marie had her faults, but she was _nothing_ like her bastard of a father.

 **"And if I remember correctly, so did he. Though his attempt was…pathetically petty."**

"He only tried to be part of her life again _after_ the She and Callie became famous. He didn't care for her, he cared only for her fame! So don't you _dare_ compare the two of them, because at least Marie has actually tried!"

Fray looked at The Captain blankly **"So, her constantly starting arguments with Naruko and her constantly putting Ekolu down over the** _ **smallest**_ **things is her trying to make things right? Don't make me laugh old man, face it, she is being just as petty as Alain. Hell, the only thing she has over him is the fact that she's never abandoned a five-year old child with a grandfather and cousin that she never knew about."** She said harshly.

Craig looked away sadly, it was true that Alain had indeed done that…he remembered it clear as day.

* * *

 **(Flashback)**

 **-March 4th, 2004-**

"What?" Craig said dumbfounded.

"*Sigh* Dad…I was hoping you could possibly look after Marie for the week." A younger Inkling man said from across from him. This was Alain, his son…

The same son that he hasn't heard so much as a peep from in the last nine years.

"I heard you Alain. I'm just surprised to find out you have a daughter…and the fact that I am only finding out now." Craig said with no small amount of disappointment in his voice. Why hadn't his son told him that he had a child?

Alain looked away "Yeah…I should have told you."

Craig looked across the room to where Callie and Marie were playing..or really, Callie was chattering away and Marie was sitting there shyly. It brought a small smile to the old Inklings face.

"I uh.. I'm sorry I couldn't make it to Sonata's funeral."

Craig let out a tired sigh "It's…it's fine son. I know you and your sister didn't exactly get along…you at least visited her on the way here?"

Alain shook his head negatively "I was going to on the way back…y'know, say my goodbyes in private." He said motioning to his daughter.

Craig nodded his head, it did make sense that Alain would want to be alone to say his goodbyes to his sister. He was likely didn't want Marie to see him upset or some such.

After an hour or so Alain began to get ready to leave, "You be good for your grandfather and cousin okay." He said to Marie.

"I will Papa." Marie murmured before hugging him.

Off to the side Craig noticed a slight scowl on Alain's face when Marie hugged him but it disappeared quickly.

Watching his son drive away Craig looked down to his granddaughter "C'mon lass, let's get you set up in your cousins room." He said as he gently took her hand.

 **(Flashback end)**

* * *

"Hey…hey are you okay there Cap'n?" a voice said, shaking Craig from his memory.

Looking over to where the voice came from he saw Ekolu standing next to the couch. When had she gotten there?

"Hmm? Oh don't mind me squiddo, just daydreaming and all."

Ekolu shrugged and sat down on the couch.

"Erm…do you know where Naruko went?" The Captain asked noticing that Naruko was no longer in the room. It concerned him slightly seeing as Naruko did seem quite mad about the fact that Callie had essentially sold her out…that and he was afraid that Fray might do something that Naruko would likely regret…or perhaps the other way around.

"She's passed out on the grass out front so I assume she fell asleep while cloud watching or something."

Oh thank the gods,

"Though...there _was_ this note addressed to you that was sitting on the counter." Ekolu said holding out said note to the Captain.

Craig took the note and read it,

 _Dear old man,_

 _If you are reading this you have snapped out of your daydream and either Naruko is awake and likely plotting her revenge on Callie, or I was successful and she is probably passed out somewhere( Likely the lawn)._

 _I'm going to cut to the chase and tell you what I was saying before I noticed you were completely out of it,_

 _Eventually, Myself and Naruko will completely merge at some point…and at the time being,_

 _THIS WOULD BE VERY BAD!_

 _The reason being that she is both emotionally and mentally unstable at the moment. And I know you are thinking 'In what way would it be bad?'_

 _Well this is the thing...when Naruko and Myself become one once more, she will remember everything…and I do mean_ _ **everything.**_

 _She is not ready to remember what happened in that facility, nor is she ready to fully remember what happened to 808...if she did, both the weight and guilt would break her, and likely drive her completely insane._

 _Now onto the good news,_

 _The only way the both of us will become one again is from either of these scenarios,_

 _1\. Naruko comes to terms with her inner darkness(i.e Myself)_

 _2\. Naruko forgives herself for what happened in Kamabo Facility 0-N (not likely going to happen as she doesn't remember the full events)_

 _The last one however is the worst case scenario,_

 _If Naruko gets enraged to the point where she completely snaps she will subconsciously(and quite forcibly) merge Myself to her._

 _Now the problem with the last one is the fact that she seems to think I'm just a voice in her head and that she is going crazy, and as well as the fact that if this were to happen it would be temporary…but it would make her remember still… so that, plus her believing that I am just a product of her own insanity.. Yeah I don't need to tell you how that will play out._

 _So yeah, bad times for anyone involved._

 _So keep a close eye on her, and for the love of the gods let her do her business._

 _TTFN, Fray._

 _P.S:Tell Ekolu that Naruko said she can have the chocolate pudding in the fridge. It's Callie's but seeing as she decided to be a fucking snitch she has it coming...what? do you prefer if Naruko puts her through a wall or something else that would be painful? Besides it's that one brand that Callie really, really likes so it will absolutely devastate her but hey, she has it coming._

 _P.P.S: Make sure to either burn or tear this note up… oh yeah should probably mention that when we do eventually become one, Naruko will know all I know so she will find out that you know about me and such. Have fun dealing with_ _that_ _conversation, Gods above it's going to be more awkward then when you gave us all the_ _talk_ _._

 _P.P.P.S: Tell Ekolu that Naruko wants to take her to that Ramen place tonight at 6pm and that Pearl is gonna be there as well(She's still mad at Pearl for braining her with a frying pan a few weeks ago...actually, is she still mad? I'm not sure. )_

Craig stared at the note completely dumbfounded and slightly concerned at the revelation that Naruko remembering her past could do her more harm than good.

"Well...that doesn't sound good." A voice spoke from over the old Inklings shoulder, damn near giving the old man a heart attack.

Oh hell that's right. Ekolu was still in the room,

"I wonder *munch* what Callie did to *munch munch* piss Naruko off that she'd let me *gulp* eat this?" Ekolu said curiously as she ate the aforementioned pudding. Sure she knew that Callie absolutely _adored_ this brand and all, and she would normally never eat it without if Callie had bought it…but hey if Naruko said its fine than all the better.

"Nothing you need to worry about squiddo. And don't talk with you mouth full young lady."

Ekolu shrugged and finished off the pudding before checking the time,

It was 5:50 pm.

"Oh crap! I have to be at that ramen place Naruko wanted to have dinner at in ten minutes!" She yelled as she ran into the bedroom to get changed out of her agent gear.

 **-Twenty minutes later-**

 **(Sea Dragon Ramen, Outer Inkopolis Plaza)**

"Your late."

Ekolu looked away sheepishly "I got held up at home."

"More like you fell asleep on the toilet again." Pearl teased from next to Naruko.

Ekolu's face went bright red "That was one time!" She yelled embarrassed causing Pearl to laugh. Goddamn gremlin saying shit like that in public. How would she like if she brought up the time Pearl nearly crapped herself at the mall? She'd be pretty fucking embarrassed that's what. Besides, it's not like it was her fault she was tired during said incident, she did spend the day on patrol and all.

Naruko shook her head and patted the seat next to her "C'mon Eko, have a seat and order whatever. My shout."

"Wait, how did you even get here before me? You were out cold when I got to the cabin?"

Naruko shrugged but didn't answer.

Over the next hour or so the three of them talked about their week and Ekolu brought up the upcoming Splatfest,

"So this months Splatfest is Pokemon Red vs Pokemon Blue… I'm going Red." Ekolu explained

"You're only going Red because you and Marie don't get along…and you think Callie is cute." Pearl accused

"Pfft, as if. Callie may be cute and all, but I'm going Team Red because 1. Charizard is better the Blastoise, and I will bite anyone who disagrees. And 2. My dad got me Pokemon Fire Red for my fifth birthday, so it was my first ever Pokemon game."

Pearl gave a small nod of agreement "Fair enough, though… didn't Diamond and Pearl get released in 2006? Why didn't ya dad just get one of them?... Wait hold up, did you say bite?" Pearl asked before moving her chair a few inches away from Ekolu.

Ekolu shrugged "I know what I said." Pearl proceeded to move her chair a few more inches away.

"Also I didn't have a DS. But my dad did end up getting me both a DS and Pokemon Pearl for Squidmas that year." Ekolu continued before turning to Naruko.

"What about you Naruko, Red or Blue?"

Naruko didn't answer, she instead was silently staring at the empty ramen bowl in front of her.

"Hey…you ok there?" Ekolu asked putting her hand on Naruko's shoulder.

"Hmm, what?" Naruko said snapping out of her thoughts.

"I asked if you are alright?"

Naruko rubbed the back of her head and laughed "Hehe yeah…I was… I was just thinking if I wanted another bowl of ramen."

Pearl's eyes narrowed at the obvious lie but she kept quiet.

"So… what was it you asked before?" Naruko said motioning the chef for another bowl of ramen.

"Pokemon Red or Blue. Which one do you think is better?"

Naruko rubbed her chin "Hmm, neither to be honest. Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald is where it's at."

Ekolu gasped in shock "Gen 3 is an overly hyped shit fest you heathen. Ain't that right Pearl?"

"I dunno, Gen 3 has some pretty good Pokemon." Pearl said sipping her drink.

Ekolu let out a groan of pure anguish "I'm surrounded by heathens… I bet _you_ only like Gen 3 because of Gardevoir and Lopunny! You sick, sick gremlin."

"I do not!"

"Do to!"

"Do not! Also, Lopunny is Gen 4 you brainlet."

"I was talking about the remakes dumbass. Also, explain why you have a Mega Lopunny in your main team then, hmmm hmm!"

"It's a decent Fighting-Type Mega evolution!" Pearl defended "Besides, not all of us have a fucking _shiny Scizor_ that has been meticulously EV trained! And don't try to cover up your fuck up Eko! You so meant the original Gen 3 games! "

"Mega Blaziken is better, just saying."

Both Ekolu and Pearl glared at Naruko with both contempt and disgust "Oh sure, of course you say the ever generic _Fire/Fighting-Type_ is better." Pearl huffed.

Naruko shrugged "Better than a one punch glass cannon or literal furry bait. Mega Blaziken has both speed and power and it can learn moves that _will_ destroy your Mega's." She explained smugly.

Pearl slammed her head against the counter " _I'm not a furry."_ She murmured disheartedly. So what, she liked the Pokemon Lopunny. It's not like she thought it was hot or that she wanted to fuck one.

Though that being said…

She did think it was a cute Pokemon.. I-It was nothing perverse honest, she just thought it was a cute Pokemon nothing perverted, nothing sexual. It's not like she wanted a Lopunny to crush her head with its thighs or anything…

Wait, what?

Pearl's eyes widened _'Nonono. I did not just think that!"_ She thought with a blush.

Why did she just think that? Goddamn Naruko putting those thoughts her head, the stupid butt… well, actually Naruko has a pretty great butt… but that's besides the point! The main thing is that Pearl Houzuki was no furry.

Nope!

No sir.

Definitely not…

Okay maybe a little?...

No!

Why was Naruko giving her that weird look?

"God's I was joking woman. But now I'm not so sure." She said barely able to keep herself from laughing. Pearl punched Naruko in the arm "Fuck you to asshole!"

But sadly the joyful atmosphere was ruined by a voice from the entrance of the store.

"Huh, so the gremlin is not only a pathetic Ranker that gave up, but also a degenerate? Ha! I knew you were pathetic _Leviathan._ Hanging out with such an utter loser." A disgustingly smug voice spoke.

Turning in her chair Naruko glared at the person that insulted her friend.

And of course,

It was Mistral.

"Big words coming from the slut who fucked the captain of that team from Aquapolis last week during the invitational. To bad they still _decimated_ you failures." Naruko spat.

Mistral staggered back slightly in shock "H-how did you.." Naruko rolled her eyes "Fucking please, who doesn't know. Team Regis is really going downhill now that _you_ are the captain. But then again, _you_ and the other two idiots never were all that good at planning."

Ekolu and Pearl shared a look they really hopes that this wouldn't end in a fight. That was the last thing they needed right now.

"C'mon Naruko, just ignore the bitch." Pearl said trying to defuse the situation before it got out of hand

"Yeah, she's not worth it. Let's just finish up and head home." Ekolu chipped in.

However their words fell on deaf ears as Mistral made the situation worse,

"Well at least I'm not a girlfriend beating piece of shit like you Naruko. You act all high and mighty but in truth you are a pathetic, fame whore who's true colours are now known." Mistral said in a matter of fact tone. By this point Pearl had enough.

"Hey! The fuck do you think you are saying? Naruko _never_ fucking hit Marie, it was all a bunch of bullshit that bitch Kalla made up for fucking publicity!" Pearl snapped angrily.

By this point a crowd was beginning to form in the ramen shop.

"Oh please, if that was the case then Marie would have statement about it by now. And yet here we ar-"

"It's because Marie is a spineless bitch who doesn't have the fucking balls to admit the she let it get out if hand. Besides what the fuck do you know!? You! The fucking dead weight of Team Regis. You! The piece of shit that _enjoys_ bullying younger Turf War player's. _**You!**_ **The pathetic bitch who** _ **I know**_ **had a hand in spreading those fucking rumours!** " Naruko roared as she backed Mistral into a corner.

" **Y** ou **al** w **ay** s wanted **me g** one, you **always wa** nted to **ruin me… Heh… I**

I guess **you got** w **hat** you **wa** nted." Naruko said before turning to Ekolu and Pearl "C'mon, let's leave… any longer and I'll end up doing something I won't regret." She said as she walked up to the counter and paid for their meal before apologising to the owner for the trouble.

As they left Naruko looked back at Mistral who was still cowering in the corner. "The next time you fuck with me Mistral, I'll do worse then ruin your reputation... **much, much worse.** " and with that Naruko and the others left.

After they left the crowd began to talk amongst themselves,

"Holy shit… that was fucking intense."

"I know right. Did you see her _eyes_!? That can not be normal."

"Is it bad if I think she is kinda hot when she is pissed?"

Yeah just the usual nonsense.

 **-Later-**

 **(Naruko and Ekolu's apartment)**

 **-9:05 pm-**

Naruko stood in front of the mirror in her bathroom. She had just gotten out of the shower and was checking her more recent scars to make sure they had healed properly.

Her body was littered with various small scars. Scars she attained during her time as an agent of the NSS… scars she had received during her early childhood in 0-H.

Letting out a sigh, Naruko stared at her bare reflection "Who in their right mind would find this… _mess_ even remotely attractive?" She murmured as she gently brought her finger across one of the smaller scars on her abdomen.

Each and every scar was a reminder. Each one proof of both victories and defeats…but one of them…

Naruko's hand gently moved up to just beneath her breasts, it was there on the uppermost part of her abdomen where the oldest scar resided, an old pale blemish… the first of many.

The number Zero…

The number that had defined what little she remembered of her early childhood, the number that _they had branded her with_ …

She was zero… she was…

Nothing.

Naruko stared at her reflection with a sad smile before leaving the bathroom and going to bed. She had a long few days coming up, as she drifted off to sleep she hoped everything would go smoothly…

Hey who knows, she may even finish up before the Splatfest ends. And if she did, she was going to go and support Ekolu and Pearl as the played…hell she might even just lurk in the background, juuust within sight of the stage but out of sight to everyone but Callie and Marie just to freak the two of them out. Who knows, maybe one of them will piss themselves…ok she wouldn't go that far, maybe just spook them enough to cause them to stumble over their words while singing.

Naruko was confident, she was confident the mission would go on without a hitch…

 _But sadly… sadly fate had other plans._

* * *

 **Holy damn… That took way to long!**

 **Naruko: About damn time!**

 **Callie: Yeah you said two weeks, it's been like four!**

 **Eight: Silvanium is a lying mean butt!**

 **Silvanium: Hey! Uncalled for Eight. Besides I have a reason.**

 **Marie: Oh this should be good.**

 **Silvanium: Like I was saying, I've been stuck in bed the last few weeks because I messed my back up. I was helping a relative move their new couch into their house and I may or may not have lost my footing… Yeah not fun.**

 **Naruko: Oh…ouch.**

 **Ekolu: Yeesh that would have hurt.**

 **Silvanium: Your telling me, I twisted the wrong way and then fell flat on my ass while still holding onto the couch. So say my back is sore would be an underestimate.**

 **Silvanium: But enough about me and how bad I am at moving furniture. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter.**

 **See ya all next time.**


	9. Paralogue of Red&Blue

**Okay just so you all know, the Facility H chapter is up next. This one… is a little bit different. It is directly connected to the aftermath of the events of Facility H, and I know what you're thinking 'The aftermath? But why?' Well that's simple. I couldn't fit it in anywhere in the Facility H chapter, but I didn't want to scrap it or try and force it into the chapter that will cover the aftermath of H, I mean I** _ **could've**_ **but it would have been extremely out of place with that chapter so I settled on turning it into a paralogue of sorts…**

 **God this was a horrible idea wasn't it?**

* * *

Today was a good day.

The Splatfest had ended with Team Blue taking the victory, much to Callie's disappointment. But all in all, they both enjoyed themselves as always. And to celebrate they decided on getting burgers for dinner. Which led to having to sign a few autographs when they pulled into the drive through, but to be honest neither of them cared as they were still riding the high that came with doing a Splatfest, hell Marie even posed for a picture with some fans.

"I shtill think Red ish better." Callie said as she munched on a hand full of fries causing Marie to smack her across the back of the head "Don't talk with your mouth full."

Swallowing her fries Callie gave her a shrug "Don't get distracted while driving Marie." She retorted with a cheeky grin.

Without taking her eyes off the road Marie's hand shot from the wheel and grabbed Callie by the nose making the older girl flail around "I can drive perfectly fine with one hand, unlike you Miss 'Failed her driving exam six times'." Marie shot back smugly.

Their banter continued until they got back home, though as they pulled up to the apartment building Callie had thoroughly disgusted her cousin by swallowing half of her triple cheeseburger whole.

"God's above woman chew your fucking food!"

"Make me bitch." Callie said as she chugged her cola(she wished it was Pepsi though) to wash it down.

Shortly after they entered their shared apartment Callie had decided to check up on the status of the mission that Naruko was on as she had a feeling that Naruko had ignored their grandfather and began the mission early. Marie, on the other hand walked to her room to get changed out of her stage outfit.

What Callie found however shook her to the core.

Callie stared at the computer monitor in silent horror next to her Marie who had returned from her room in a tank top and shorts only to see her cousin staring at the computer monitor with an almost dead look in her eyes was desperately trying to get in contact with their grandfather, and when that failed she tried Pearl to see if she had heard anything.

"God fucking damn it!" Marie shouted when all she got was voicemail, with a frustrated yell she threw her phone onto the couch. To say she was pissed would be putting it lightly, why the hell had nobody informed them that this had happened.

"C'mon, we gotta get to the Cabin." She said as she went to the counter and grabbed her keys.

Turning back she saw that Callie hadn't moved. The older of the two continued to stare blankly at the computer screen her eyes leaking fresh tears.

 **Mission:** **Infiltration of possible weapons R &D facility known as (Facility H). **

**Assigned Unit:** **Agent 0 - Agents 1 &2**

 **Status:** **ERROR**

 **Active Report,**

 **Date:** **Feb 20th. 2016.**

 **-7:00pm-**

 **Mission start**

 **Agent 0 has decided to go ahead with the mission a day early. Unable to get in contact with Agents 1 &2.**

 **Agent Vitals: 100%**

 **Lens system: Online**

 **-7:40pm-**

 **Contact and associated persons successfully located and exfiltrated from the dome and are currently en route to a safe location in Calamari County via the Kettle System with an ally under the codename 'Wicked White'**

 **-7:55pm-**

 **Agent 0 is proceeding towards the infiltration point.**

 **-8:43pm-**

 **Contact and associated persons safely escorted to safe house,**

 **Wicked White is en route back to Cuttlefish Cabin for debrief.**

 **-9:03pm-**

 **Resistance encountered within the sewage system. Hostiles appear to be some form of Salmonid, much like the intel stated. They are indeed far more aggressive than their above ground dwelling cousins.**

 **A lot fucking freakier to.**

 **-10:45pm-**

 **Multiple deceased Octolings between the ages of 5 and 14 have been found half eaten and piled up near a large pipe entrance. This coincides with the information Takoyai gave the NSS about children going missing. The likely culprit where the brood of Salmonids that have just been disposed of.**

 **Self Note: The skin around the eyes and mouths of some of the less… decomposed Octolings is an odd shade of orange/yellow. This is odd, seeing as this is a common sight in those poisoned with Amber-7h(Amber Thorn) in gas form. Enquire with Takoyai if there was a leak of the substance recently(the sheer fact that the Octarians are possibly using this substance calls for higher caution from now on). If not then I fear there may be something far more sinister at hand within this dome.**

 **-11:15pm-**

 **Facility successfully infiltrated**

 **-11:27pm-**

 **Enemies engaged and dealt with.**

 **Agent 0 remains undetected. Enemy combatants knocked out and secured in lower boiler room.**

 **-11:42pm-**

 **Central control room located, beginning download of R &D information. **

**-11:45pm-**

 **Download complete. File of interest, 'Project Genesis'. Requesting permission to investigate.**

 **Secondary request: High priority target Nymea Rotha is the Head Advisor of the Facility. Permission to eliminate?**

 **-11:46pm-**

 **New Objective: Locate 'Genesis Training Room'**

 **Secondary request: Denied. Engage only if absolutely necessary.**

 **-12:00am-**

 **Objective located**

 **-12:02am-**

 **Status:**

 **Heart rate escalated, Nausea, Rage.**

 **-12:04am-**

 **Order to withdraw ignored.**

 **New Objective: Eliminate Advisor Nymea**

 **-12:25am-**

 **Status: ghfxxsfg**

 **Xgfsgukhcdgsd**

 **Lens system: Offline**

 **-12:27am-**

 **ERROR ERROR ERROR**

 **-12:32am-**

 **Fatal wound received. Location: Throat.**

 **Vitals at 70%**

 **Fatal wound received. Location: Torso**

 **Vitals at 54%**

 **Fatal wound received. Location: Abdomen**

 **Vitals at 40%**

 **Fatal wound received. Location: Torso**

 **Vitals at 26%**

 **Status: Critical Condition**

 **-12:36am-**

 **Lens system: Online**

 **-12:48-**

 **ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR**

 **Connection Lost**

 **-2:12am-**

 **Connection Reestablished**

 **Agent location: Cuttlefish Cabin, Octo Valley**

 **Agent in critical condition**

 **Vitals at 12% and dropping, immediate medical attention required.**

 **Objective status: N/A**

"For fucks sake Callie! Pull it together." Marie yelled as she pulled Callie away from the computer before shutting it down.

"Look if anything this is probably just a sick prank on Naruko's part to get back at us. Do you honestly think she'd be sloppy enough to get hurt that badly?" Marie tried to reason, however Callie wasn't listening.

All that was going through her mind was the last conversation she had with Naruko a few hours prior to her leaving for the dome…

 **(Flashback)**

Callie stood silently in the hallway of the Cabin. How was she going to go about this? It was very obvious that Naruko was pissed with her, how much she didn't know but she did know that she was playing with fire at the moment.

God she really hoped that Naruko will listen.

Taking a deep breath, Callie made her way to the living room.

"Naruko," Callie called out from the doorway.

"Can.. can we talk real quick?"

Naruko just glared at her and continued to get her equipment in order.

Callie walked towards the older girl "Look Naru, I.. I know you're mad at me. Trust me I get it, but you have to-"

Callie was silenced by Naruko slamming her fist on the table.

"I am more then fucking mad at you _Calliope._ " Well shit, she busted out her full name… Yeah she was definitely pissed at her, was it too late to run and hide?

"I trusted you. _I fucking trusted you_. And what did you go and do? You went and did the very goddamn thing I _begged_ you not to do!" Naruko said as she glared at the equipment in front of her.

"Just what was I supposed to do?" Callie asked as she knelt down next to Naruko "I remember just how bad things got when those nightmares occurred back when we were kids. I remember you constantly jumping at even the smallest shadow, I remember all the times you woke up screaming in fear…" She whimpered.

"Naruko… I was..I am concerned for your health and for your mental wellbeing… that's why I told Grandpa."

Naruko just sat silently before exhaling "I get that Cal… but I trusted you.. or at least I thought I could."

"You can trust me!"

"Like hell I can!" Naruko shouted as she stood from the couch "You promised me that you wouldn't say anything. And yet what did you do? You did exactly that!" She shouted angrily.

Callie wasn't going to back down though "Well maybe if you pulled your fucking head out of your ass you would see that I am trying to fucking help you!" She honestly has had enough of Naruko constantly pushing them away, one way or another that was going to end now. Though a small part of her was screaming at her to not do this, that she was only going to make things worse.

"Oh get fucked you snide bitch. Have you thought that maybe _I don't want help!"_

"THAT is exactly why you do need help!" Callie yelled back.

Naruko just scoffed and continued to sort her gear only for Callie grab her arm "Don't ignore me Naruko."

Naruko stopped for a moment before shaking Callie off of her.

"Look Callie, I'm going to give you one chance to get out of my face before I-"

"Before you what? Kick the shit out of me like you did to Marie? Yeah well newsflash for ya, I'm not as shit with hand to hand as she is!" Callie said defiantly, and she was telling the truth as well. If Naruko wanted to throw hands then she better be prepared for Callie to fight back. Because unlike her cousin, Callie never slacked on her CQC training and she knew that she was evenly matched with Naruko, something that even Naruko had to admit was true.

Naruko let out a tired sigh "Just.. just leave me alone Callie… please." She said as she got up off the couch and walked towards the bedroom. She honestly didn't want to fight with Callie at the moment, hell at all really. Sure she was still mad about her blabbing about her having those nightmares again, but it's not like she wanted to hurt her. Especially seeing as the Captain has pushed the mission back until _after_ the Splatfest so Callie and Marie could be her back up.

"We aren't done talking yet!" Callie said as she went to follow her.

"Yes we are. Go bother Marie or some shit, I have to get prepared for the mission. And if you actually used your brain for once you'd realise that you should be doing the same." Naruko said as she continued to walk away before stopping and looking towards Callie,

"But then again, if you two gave a shit you'd have postponed the Splatfest...so I guess we both know what your priorities are." Naruko sated before going to the bedroom to get her keys.

Anger bubbled within Callie. All she was trying to do was help Naruko and yet this is what she got? Naruko pretty much telling her to go fuck herself and to shove her concerns up her own ass. All she was trying to do was help Naruko, why didn't she see that? And in all honesty,

It really, _really_ pissed her off.

"You know what, fine. Go fuck yourself then you goddamn coward! I'm done trying to help your hopeless ass." Callie shouted angrily before storming off into the kitchen. She needed something sweet to calm her nerves and she had just the thing…

Or really she did,

"Who the hell ate my pudding!?"

 **(Flashback end)**

"Callie! Hey snap out of it!"

Callie blinked a few times before turning to Marie. Her was cousin staring at her with concern.

"You okay?"

Callie blinked a few times before answering "N-no… I'm n-not." She whimpered.

Oh god.. she was such a bitch to Naruko and now... now she might be...

Marie pulled Callie into a hug "Look everything is gonna be fine. If anything it's either a horrible prank or the log system fucking up. Naruko is probably fine. Besides, didn't gramp delay the mission until after the Splatfest? "

Callie sniffed a few times before nodding her head "Have.. have you checked if you have any missed calls? Maybe they tried to get in contact."

Marie shook her head negatively "No, the only missed calls I have are from Pearl and this number I don't recognise. They also left a few voicemails but like I said, don't recognise the number. And the missed call from Pearl was from the 19th so its not recent."

"W-what was the number?" Callie asked.

"Hmm? Oh it was _(xxxxxxxxxx)_ why?" Marie asked. Callie's eyes went wide "T-that's Ekolu's number!" Marie followed suite "Oh fuck…"

Marie rushed over to the couch and hastily picked up her phone before accessing her voicemail,

 _You have_ _ **6**_ _Voicemails._

 _Voicemail_ _ **1**_ _received_ _on February 20 at_ _ **4:30pm,**_

 _"Uh...hey Marie, it's me E-Ekolu…I um, yeah Callie gave me your number when she gave me hers but for some reason it keeps saying her number can't be reached, so I'm sorry I have to ring your personal phone. Anyway, I'm just calling to tell you two that Naruko is going ahead with the mission early. Please don't be mad."_

 _"Oh! And uh Callie, if your listening to this I'm the one who ate your pudding."_

Callie and Marie looked at each other uneasily. Naruko had indeed decided to go ahead with the mission instead of waiting.

 _Voicemail_ _ **2**_ _received on February 20 at_ _ **11:26pm,**_

 _"Hey its me again. The Cap'n needs me to report in and he also asked me to see if you two have maybe an hour to spare, I'm guessing not seeing as I've went right to voicemail again so I'll just tell him you two are swamped with performing."_

 _"Y'know, despite me not liking your music that much I have to admit that you two have really beautiful voices…. Oh god that came out weird, ignore that last part!"_

Callie couldn't help but giggle lightly "God's, she is so cute sometimes." Marie rolled her eyes and selected the next voicemail "What do you thing Gramps needed her for?"

Callie shrugged as she hadn't a clue.

 _Voicemail_ _ **3**_ _received on February 21 at_ _ **12:50pm**_ **,**

 _"Hey uhh we may have a problem. Naruko has gone dark and from the look of the live report thingy she is probably injured, though I'm not sure if it's working right because a bunch of error messages keep popping up. Cap'n wanted me to ask if you could put the Splatfest on hold or something."_

 _"Please call back soon."_

Callie gave Marie a look "Why didn't you just answer your phone?"

Marie looked away in shame "I thought it was our old manager trying to get in contact with us… sorry." She murmured before playing the next one.

 _Voicemail_ _ **4**_ _received on February 21 at_ _ **1:36am,**_

 _"Guys really, get here now. The Captain is freaking the fuck out and is honestly considering sending Me and Pearl in. Does Pearl even have any training? Is she even an Agent?"_

 _"I mean I'd go in a heartbeat but we just got some Intel that something or someone just tore through Facility H. We don't know what, but whatever it was appears to have killed the majority of the personnel inside and has damaged the facility pretty damn badly. I'm concerned if Naruko is okay. Please for the love of god get here soon!"_

Marie turned to her cousin with a concerned look "Cal, go get changed. We gotta go now!" Callie nodded and ran to her room to change out of her Squid Sister outfit, because the last thing they needed was to be getting swamped when they reached the Plaza, despite the fact that it was nearly two in the morning... Yeah some people took Turf War and Ranked way to seriously.

A few minutes later Callie came back out now dressed in a pair of grey sweatpants and a purple long-sleeved shirt.

"Do you think we should listen to the rest of the messages before we head out?" Callie asked.

Marie thought about it for a moment. In all honesty they probably should, just incase It was a false alarm or if there was a change in the situation.

"Yeah, we probably should." Marie said as she accessed the fifth message.

 _Voicemail_ _ **5**_ _received on February 21 at_ _ **2:15am.**_

 _"M-Marie w-where *sob* where are you guys? Please…PLEASE PICK UP THE PHONE!_ *sob*"

 _"T-there's so much b-blood *sob* P-Pearl a-and the C-Captain are panicking and I… I don't know what to do *sob* *sob* please… Naruko's hurt bad.."_

The rest of the voicemail had consisted of Ekolu crying and muttering how Naruko had lost a lot of blood before the call had been cut off.

Moments later the two of them were seated in Marie's car.

"Marie! Slow the fuck down!" Callie screamed as Marie took a sharp left turn while going at double the speed limit.

It was nearly two in the morning so she didn't have to about accidentally hitting any oncoming traffic. But that didn't excuse the fact that she was going at nearly 80mph in a 30 zone.

"Play the last message." Marie said as she took another sharp turn.

"What?"

"Just fucking do it!"

Callie grabbed Marie's phone and opened her voicemail.

 _Voicemail_ _ **6**_ _received on February 21 at_ _ **10:32pm**_ _._

 _"Marie its Pearl… Look, I have no fucking clue as to why the both of you are ignoring your phones but I don't care. Get here now! Naruko got pretty messed up during her infiltration and… and… oh for fucks sake who am I kidding! She nearly fucking died! She nearly died and you two are fucking ignoring our phone calls!"_

 _" I don't know what the fuck is wrong with you two but you better get here soon. Ekolu is freaking out big time and she won't stop crying!"_

 _"Naruko is in really fucking bad shape. It's a damn miracle she even survived, and thats with her higher regeneration. Just please, please call back."_

 _"For fucks sake it's been nearly a day!"_

The rest of the car ride was silent. The full weight of what had happened slowly began to set in as Marie pulled into the side alley where the Valley entrance was.

Shortly afterwards the two of them made their way to the Valley entrance. Praying to whatever deity that would listen that Naruko was okay.

Sadly for them…

The gods weren't listening.

 _ **-To be continued-**_


	10. Sub-Arc, Revelation of H(Part 1)

**This is it. Are you ready?**

 **I'm not.**

 **Naruko: Suck it up princess at least your not getting stabbed this arc**

 **Callie: Wait what!? Who's getting stabbed?**

 **Naruko: That would be telling~**

 **Silvanium: Welp here we go part 1 of the Facility H sub arc?**

 **Four: Wait this is a multiple part thing?**

 **Silvanium: Yep.**

 **Four: Huh? I thought it was going to be like 2-3 chapters tops.**

 **Silvanium: It was. Then I decided to compile the aftermath events into the arc instead of doing a post-arc scenario, so long story short it's going to be roughly 4 or so chapters long.**

 **Callie: Seriously guy's who's getting stabbed!?**

 **Silvanium: You'll just have to wait and see.**

 **Naruko: Don't worry Cal, it isn't you.**

 **Callie: Oh god oh god it's me isn't it!? Marie, where's my Hero Armour!**

 **Naruko: I just said you aren't….**

 **Oh and just to clarify, the currency earned from Turf War is different to the one used for normal purchases. For example, some shops in Inkopolis Plaza(and in the Square later on) use both but everywhere else unless it's a TWC owned shop, uses normal money.**

 **So it goes like this:**

 **T = Turf Tokens**

 **C = Ink Coin(Will probably change its name…any suggestions?)**

 **100000T = 1000C = $100**

* * *

 **(Cuttlefish Cabin)**

Naruko stood in front of a long table with Ekolu seated a few feet away. On it were four different weapons, the smallest was a HP-Shooter class sidearm similar to the one she gave Ekolu on the night of the Zapfish theft. The second was a NSS standard issue MV-Shooter codenamed the 'Hero Shot', though its appearance was vastly different to the one that Ekolu used.

And lastly were two Chargers.

"Okay kid, last question. Can you tell me the difference between a standard Turf War Shooter and HP-Shooter?" Naruko said as she pointed to the Hero Shot that was resting on the table.

"Turf War 'weapons' are made of a dense plastic with little to no metal parts and can only shoot low pressure blobs of ink thus making them completely non-lethal and only useful in sports. Whereas a HP weapon however is made of Anglerite and Carbon Coral and fires a highly pressurised shot of ink. Use or ownership of a HP weapon outside of military/law enforcement or extremely particular situations use is strictly prohibited and is punishable with upwards of five to thirty years in jail for the sole fact that a HP weapon is extremely dangerous in the wrong hands." Ekolu said

Naruko gave her a nod "Good, so you were paying attention when Gramps was teaching you about the different types and the legislation involving them." She said making Ekolu smile happily "However," Ekolu's smile faltered "You forgot to mention how HP weapons have a secondary ink unit which can be loaded with cartridges instead of relying on an ink tank, unlike their low-pressure counterparts. And the fact that it is highly recommended to use said cartridges because of the strain a HP can put on your ink sac."

Ekolu looked a little dejected at forgetting that bit of information causing Naruko to chuckle lightly before giving the younger girl a pat on the shoulder "All in all you're doing fine though. So don't let forgetting a few things get you down, you're still new so it can't be expected for you to remember everything perfectly. Hell, the amount of times I've told Marie to not have her Hero Charger on HP mode at the Cabin is astronomical."

Ekolu raised her hand which caused Naruko to chuckle "We aren't in school Eko."

Ekolu lowered her hand with a light blush "Umm… isn't it illegal for us to have these then? I mean we _are_ acting outside the bounds of the local government." She had been meaning to ask that for a while. What if they got caught on patrol by a cop? Would they go to jail?

"Good question." Naruko said as she grabbed a chair and sat on it backwards "We are technically a private security organisation on paper, off the books however, we are a privately funded Paramilitary organisation that has close ties to Calamari County and because of this we have the authority to operate in Inkopolis as long as we don't step on the toes of the local PD. So in other words, what we do is completely legal, hell sometimes the police call us in to help SWAT teams with more… _delicate_ situations." Naruko explained.

"Wait what!?" Ekolu exclaimed in shock. Holy shit… wait, was she going to need to do that?

"Yeah we sometimes help out the local PD and occasionally we provide security for our benefactor… hold up let me show you something." Naruko said as she turned the TV on and played a video.

Said video showed Naruko and Callie completely decked out in SWAT-like attire(the main difference was that it had NSS on it) with their faces and eyes completely obscured as to protect their identity. They appeared to be in conversation with the Captain of the SWAT team.

The video then cut to Naruko tackling an Anemone man and cuffing him while Callie smacking the shit out of two more with a baton while the rest of the SWAT team moved in to secure the hostages that the three men had.

"Holy shit!"

Naruko let out a laugh "Yeah… Callie went a little overboard in that particular instance."

Ekolu gave Naruko a look as if to say 'wtf' as the video showed Callie put one of the men in a headlock and then proceeded to slam him into the hood of a nearby car. She then grabbed the other guy and proceeded to suplex him through a bench.

If that was a little overboard then she definitely did not want to see her going completely overboard.

"Oh shit that's right!" Naruko suddenly shouted

"Have you filled in your basic information on your dossier? I remember the old man saying something about needing to remind you to do so." Naruko asked.

Ahh shit. That's what she was forgetting. Turning to Naruko, Ekolu gave her a sheepish smile "Uhhh… not yet." A moment later she was somehow sitting in front of the kitchen table with a few forms in front of her and a pen sitting next to them _'Wait.. weren't we just in the basement?'_

"Okay just fill in your name and date of birth here," Naruko said pointing at the top of the form "Any allergies/medical conditions here." She continued while pointing lower down "And finally, your next of kin, emergency contact, address, email, phone number." She finished.

"Uhh?"

Naruko stopped for a second "Do you want to see mine so you see how it should look?" Ekolu nodded

Naruko walked out of the room and returned a moment later with a sheet of paper "Here ya go." She placed it in front of the younger girl.

 **Name:** Naruko U. Cuttlefish

 **D.O.B:** October 10th, 1997

 **Age:** 18

 **Sex:** F

 **Contact Number:** xxxxxxxxxx

 **Email:** N/A

 **Address:** Apartment 120, Flounder Heights(Old)

 **Emergency Contact:** xxxxxxxxxx

"Then after that I need you to fill in your tax file number on this sheet so we can pay you." Naruko said as she placed another piece of paper in front of Ekolu

"Wait we get paid!?" Ekolu looked up from the form shock. She honestly thought this was primarily voluntary, it never crossed her mind that she'd be actually earning an income from retrieving the Zapfish.

"Well yeah. We get a monthly salary of around 37000C… Well, actually you'd be on about 21000C due to you being a fresh recruit and all. Though Callie and Marie have forgone getting paid because of their music career, so yeah, we get paid. Also, all Agents medical and dental are covered by the NSS as well."

Ekolu nearly dropped the pen. 21000C was a lot of money to earn for someone her age, more than she ever made off Turf War(she wasn't in a professional team) or that time she worked at MakoMart for a month. Hell it was more surprising than the fact that they pretty much got free healthcare, though then again she already assumed that they had some kind of healthcare plan seeing as what they did on a daily basis.

"You're not pulling my leg are you?"

"Well to be honest… This is a new thing, like I'm talking we only started doing it mid way through last month. I mean, we are kinda risking our lives so it makes sense. Then again it was Ferdinand's idea seeing as we now have four operatives. Not really liking it though, it was enough that he…"

"Ferdinand?"

Naruko's eyes widened "Forget you heard that. You don't have the clearance to know about him yet." She ordered.

Now Ekolu was curious "So this Ferdinand is the benefactor of the NSS then?" she asked only for Naruko to put both her hands over her mouth "Shhh! If Gramps finds out I told you, I'm in deep shit."

Ok fair enough. But did she really have to cover her mouth like that? Also, why do Naruko's hands smell weird? Oh god now her nose was burning! And now her eyes were!

Ekolu thrashed in Naruko's grip in an effort to pry her hands of her face.

Naruko seemingly got the message and removed her hands letting Ekolu run to the sink to wash off whatever was Naruko's hand off her face.

"What's her problem?" Naruko said as she watched Ekolu feverishly rinse her face. Curiously, Naruko brought her hand up to her nose and sniffed it.

 _'Oh._.' She thought _'I knew I forgot to do something.'_

Earlier she had been dicing up some chilies to go with dinner tonight and she had forgotten to wash her hands afterwards so the residue was still on her hands.

"Sorry Eko." Naruko said sheepishly as the younger girl continued to scrub her face.

Naruko stared at the sight of Ekolu seemingly trying to drown herself in the kitchen sink before turning her attention to the surprisingly filled out forms. _'Damn she did that fast.'_

Naruko gave the form a quick read over.

 **Name:** Ekolu Faris

 **Age:** 15

 **D.O.B:** November 5th 2000

 **Sex:** F

 **Contact Number:** xxxxxxxxxx

 **Address:** Apartment 30, Mandrake Rd

 **Emergency Contact:** xxxxxxxxxx

 **Next of kin:** K- U-

 **Medical**

 **Blood Type:** O

 **Allergies:** Wasps

 **Medical conditions:** None

"Huh… your birthday is ten days before Callie's? Interesting." Naruko pondered as she looked over the forms. Reading over the rest of the forms Naruko's eyes narrowed when she saw the Next of Kin. For whatever reason, Ekolu had scribbled out the name she had written. The only letters that Naruko could make out were a K and a U…. _' I'll have to ask her about it.'_

"Why is my face still burning!"

"Ghost peppers kiddo." Naruko responded off handedly as she filled in the parts of the forms that required either herself or the Captain to do so.

 **-Later that day-**

"Sooooo… the Splatfest starts tomorrow huh?"

Naruko and Ekolu were having lunch at a sushi place that Ysayle had told Naruko about, and yes the two of them were on somewhat speaking terms again…kinda.

"Mhmm." Ekolu nodded as she ate another piece of eel sushi.

"Kinda sucks I can't participate." Naruko said dejectedly. What? The mission was pushed back until the 22nd so it's not like she had anything better to do, and to be honest,

She _really_ missed doing a few rounds of Turf War. The fast paced action was something she absolutely loved, it kept her on her toes and it also doubled as decent training… it totally wasn't because she enjoyed watching people leg it when they realised it was her they were up against.

Definitely not the reason at all, nope not at all…

.

.

.

Okay it kinda was.

Now that she thought of it, didn't they ban her old main weapon? Doing a quick search she confirmed that they did indeed ban Splat-bat's from use in Inkopolis. And from the looks of it, it was around the same time she got banned as well meaning they essentially used that as a reason to ban the use of Splat-bat's.

It didn't surprise her really, the TWC had been trying to ban the weapon for years now. But seeing as she was a pretty popular ranked player they couldn't, seeing as it was her main and the fact that her using it started a resurgence of popularity with the striker class weapon. It was stupid really seeing as the weapon was kinda useless in Turf War and was only good in Ranked do to its abysmal ink coverage, which in itself was to be expected seeing as it was literally a foam bat and all. But then again she did distinctly remember when she was like fifteen and she got screamed at by some kids mother because she splatted her daughter by smashing her in the back of the head with said bat during a round of standard Turf War.

But on the other hand, nobody ever complains about Rollers… despite you know, being literal giant paint rollers that you could use as a bludgeon! But a foam bat was apparently to far... God's she wished she was still in Calamari County.

Naruko moped as she ate her sushi. Yep Turf War just wasn't gonna be fun anymore.

"I'm going Team Red by the way." Ekolu said as she finished her food.

Naruko nodded as she pulled out her wallet to pay for their meal. "Thought you already said this?"

Ekolu shrugged "I was still mulling it over… now I just want to kick the shit out of that Mistral bitch and her team." She said as they walked out of the shop.

"She's going on Blue? Shit now I really wish I could still participate." Naruko groaned. It didn't surprise her in all honesty though, Mistral had this rather peculiar hatred for Callie… It totally wasn't because Callie had decimated her a few years ago during a minor tournament(It was)

Without anything better to do, the two of them walked through the plaza making idle talk to kill time seeing as Naruko had literally nothing better to do and Ekolu wasn't on duty so they decided to just hang out and talk "Hey Naruko, look." Ekolu said motioning towards the Squid Sisters.

Both Callie and Marie were looking at them with an odd look, though Callie seemed to be focused on something else seeing as her eyes shifted over to the left of their studio and then back at them with an odd nervousness that she hasn't seen since that time Callie drove her car around their grandfather's property(without permission) and proceeded to drive it into a ditch.

Speaking of her car, didn't she park it in that direction?

Naruko turned her attention to where her car was, her eyes widened slightly before a furious anger set in.

Some piece of shit was keying her fucking car in broad daylight and nobody was doing shit! Naruko stormed over to her car and the culprit "Oi! What the fuck do you think your doing!"

The perpetrator turned their head slightly before shrugging and going back to dragging what looked like a key(could've been a pocket knife) across the hood of her car, it actually looked like they were trying to write something. It was at that moment Naruko got a decent look at the punk and when she did her eyes went a malicious red.

"Zephyr you piece of fucking shit! Did your slut of a sister put you up to this!?" Naruko roared as she grabbed the Inkling boy and flung him violently from her car.

As it turned out, the one keying her car was Zephyr, aka Mistral's younger brother.

"Shit Naruko calm down. People are staring." Ekolu said, and true to her word a crowd had started to gather.

"I don't give a flying fuck."

Zephyr scoffed as he got up and dusted himself off "It's not like I was doing any damage." He said in a matter of fact tone.

"Carving this shit into my car is damage, you brain dead fuckwit!" Naruko shouted as she motioned to the various obscenities that he had carved into the hood of her car.

Various words such as; _Bitch, Slut, Whore, Monster, Girlfriend Beater_ and so on.

Zephyr smirked arrogantly "It's not like none of it's untrue." He said as he walked past them. Naruko glared but turned her attention to her car.

 _'I swear to fucking god if that perverted little fuck touches me I'm gonna…!'_ Naruko felt a hand grab her ass rather firmly _'Oh that's_ _ **fucking it!**_ _'_

Naruko turned and slugged the smug faced bastard across the face sending him flying across the street causing some people to shout out in shock,

"Holy shit! Did you see that?"

"She sent him clear across the street dude!"

"What a violent nut job."

"I mean, _he did_ have it coming seeing as he grabbed her ass and all."

"I'll say it again, she is bloody _hot_ when she's mad."

"Are you serious right now Paruko?"

"Fucking A!"

Naruko ignored the crowd and just glared at the Inkling she just sent flying and if anyone had looked at the Squid Sisters studio they would have seen Marie and two of the security guards trying to hold back a rather infuriated Callie from charging out there and beating the crap out of Zephyr.

"If you ever even _think_ of touching me again, you will lose your fucking hand Zephyr!" Naruko shouted at the downed Inkling.

"OK what's going on here?"

Naruko looked at the new voice and cringed slightly _'Fuck…'_

It was a police officer that was on patrol.

"It's nothing officer, just dealing with a punk that was vandalising my car."

The Police officer in question was a slightly pale, average sized Inkling Woman with magenta coloured medium length tentacles. She looked to be in her late 20s early 30s.

The officer's eyes narrowed slightly "I take it that the young man over there is the one?" She pointed at Zephyr who was trying(and failing) to get up.

"Yes Ma'am."

The Policewoman sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose "Can anyone else confirm her st-"

"She's lying! She attacked him for no reason!"

"Yeah!"

"Zephyr was just passing by and she lashed out at him."

"The hell are you fucking drongos talking about! She didn't do anything wrong."

Naruko stared at the crowd in slight shock. Sure she knew she was disliked by the majority of the Turf War scene, but to the extent that they'd lie to get her arrested? God they couldn't be that petty… could they?

Over to the side Ekolu stared at the scene just as shocked.

The Officer looked at the still struggling Zephyr and then back at Naruko before letting out a sigh she made her decision "Ma'am, I'm gonna need you to turn around and put your hands on the car."

"Are you fucking kidding me!"

While this was happening one if the security guards for the studio slipped inside unnoticed

 **-Meanwhile-**

( **The Squid Sisters' Dressing room)**

"Callie calm down. I'm sure everything will be fine. After all, that police officer turned up and I'm sure Naruko can handle it." This was Alyssa the producer of the cousins news segments and also a good friend of the cousins.

Callie paced back and forward nervously. She wanted to go outside and back Naruko up, but both Alyssa and Marie agreed that was a bad idea.

Marie sat across from both of them as she untied her hair from its usual style and was lacking the usual makeup she wore on set." Cal, listen to Aly. Naruko will be fi-"

 _ ***Bang***_

" Callie! *huff* Marie! *huff*" a security guard burst into the room and was completely out of breath from sprinting all the way from the entrance.

"God's Elizabeth, are you trying to give us a heart attack!?" Alyssa scolded the Anemone girl.

"Naru *huff* Naruko is getting arrested!"

The Inklings in the room froze.

"WHAT!"

 **-Back outside-**

"Are you fucking kidding me? Why the hell am I the one getting in shit when he was the one who started it!" Naruko said angrily as the police officer cuffed her.

"Ma'am don't make this harder than it has to be."

Across the road, Zephyr stared at the scene with a smug expression as he called his sister to tell her the 'good news'

"Officer… please Naruko didn't do anything wrong. Zephyr started it when he decided to vandalise her car." Ekolu tried to reason with the policewoman.

Sadly the officer wasn't listening as she led Naruko to the back of a nearby police cruiser.

Ekolu didn't know what to do. She was panicking badly…should she call the Captain? Pearl maybe?

"What the hell are you doing!?" a voice rang out.

Much to the surprise of Ekolu and Naruko(and the somewhat big crowd) it was Marie who had called out.

And boy did she look pissed.

Marie calmly walked towards them with Elizabeth following closely behind her. Her face however showed a furious anger that didn't match her calm posture at all.

"Why the hell are you arresting Naruko?"

The Officer sputtered for a moment before answering "W-Well Miss Cuttlefish I.. she attacked that young man over there and-"

"You mean the guy who legged it the moment he saw my guard and I?"

True to her word Zephyr was nowhere to be seen as he did indeed make a run for it knowing that Marie would justifiably turn the situation around onto him.

Naruko let out an exasperated sigh "I have it handled Marie. Just go away would y-"

"Naruko, I am trying to help you. So stop being a fuckwit and sit down and shut up."

Naruko was taken aback slightly by the authoritative tone in Marie's voice(as well as the fact that she had swore at her in public while still in outfit) before shrugging and doing as she was told.

"Now then," Marie held her hand out to Elizabeth who in turn handed her a sleek looking tablet "As you can see from the security footage, Naruko only punched Zephyr _after_ he groped her. And last I checked that counts as sexual assault on his part. So tell me this officer, did you even investigate the reason why Zephyr got punched? Or did you just make assumptions based on what the media has said about Naruko in the past?"

The Police Officer couldn't answer her.

"Hmph, exactly. Now then unless you want to be buried neck deep in a legal shit storm that will most assuredly ruin your career, I'd suggest uncuffing Naruko because as the footage shows. She is the victim here."

A while later both Naruko and Marie stood in front of Naruko's car.

"I could've handled that y'know."

Marie gave Naruko a hard look "Like how? From what I saw you were pretty much screwed."

Naruko shrugged and said she would have found a way. Marie let out a soft sigh "You know, there isn't anything wrong with needing help Naruko." She said softly as she reached for Naruko's hand.

Naruko however moved as to avoid contact with the younger girl which caused Marie to frown slightly.

 _'Oh fuck it.'_ Marie followed after Naruko and proceeded to pull the taller girl into a hug.

Naruko froze at the sudden contact not knowing what to do.

Luckily for the both of them the crowd had mostly dispersed however there were a few people still hanging about, watching the touching if somewhat awkward scene play out.

Marie buried her face into Naruko's shoulder _'Well… I've come this far.'_ She thought before she gently pulled away slightly. God's she hoped this was a good idea.

Ignoring the part of her brain telling her _'Don't do it! Don't fucking do it!'_ Marie gently pressed her lips against Naruko's cheek causing the taller Inklings eyes to widen slightly.

 _'God's, I'm doing it! I'm actually doing it. Okay, calm down Marie. Don't make it weird. Pull back and.. and… Did she always smell this good?'_ While Marie was lost in her own world she didn't see Naruko's eyes flicker from blue to red.

Marie stumbled slightly when she felt Naruko push her away. Marie looked hurt and seemed as if she was about to say something, but her words died in her throat when she saw crimson eyes staring at her impassively but with no small amount of both confusion and anger as well.

The grey-green Inklings eyes shrunk slightly as she stumbled back a little _'Oh.. Oh I fucked up. Shitshitshit what do I do?'_ She thought in slight panic. Fuck she really messed up didn't she? A horrible weight formed in her stomach as she came to the realisation that if Naruko were to snap at her it would essentially make things far worse for her… And it would be her fault yet again. _'C-crap what do I do! Gramps told me not to try and rush things and I did exactly that!'_

However much to her relief(and no small amount of sadness) Naruko just pushed past her and walked towards the drivers side of her car and hopped in with Ekolu following shortly after.

And just like that, Naruko left.

Marie stood silently as she watched Naruko drive off.

"Are… are you okay boss?" Elizabeth asked as she approached the idol.

Marie looked down sadly "No Liz… No I'm not." She said quietly before walking towards the studio.

As she entered she was pulled aside by a furious looking Callie,

"What the fuck was that Marie? Are you _trying_ to make shit worse!?" Callie hissed angrily.

"Callie… please don't.. just don't."

Callie stopped her rant when she heard how broken Marie sounded.

Letting out a sigh she brought her cousin into a hug "I get it okay. You saw an opportunity to show her that you care.. but Marie, you gotta realise she isn't in a proper state of mind right now."

Marie looked at Callie curiously "Wait… what do you mean by that?" Was she talking about the whole red eyes=anger thing?

Callie pulled away "I..I really shouldn't be telling you this, because I'm pretty sure she is already pissed at me for telling Gramps and all."

Okay _now_ she had her attention "What do you mean?" Marie urged.

Callie stood there for a moment contemplating whether or not to tell Marie.

"Promise me… promise me that you will _not,_ under any circumstances mention that I told you this. Okay?"

Marie nodded affirmatively.

God's this was going to be a long, _long_ conversation.

* * *

 **Aaaaand done!**

 **I hope you all enjoy this chapter.**

 **However, I'd like to apologise for the delay. The reason for the delay is because I have** _ **slightly**_ **changed the direction I wanted to go with this story on top of other various commitments.**

 **One of the changes is something rather important. That being the subject of Ekolu's mother. Now you see, I was originally going to have her be a one off character that would be a minor antagonist for a chapter or two to justify Ekolu getting adopted into the Cuttlefish family but I changed my mind.**

 **Now I'm torn between two choices, one of them I feel would fit pretty damn well and would cause a bit of drama. And the other… well let's just say it is fucking insane. It would be a pretty crazy reveal and I feel it would go pretty good, but it will be harder to pull off.**

 **And trust me, the second choice will have no shortage of suffering for a certain few characters, but it will also strengthen the bond of said characters.**

 **So toss a review my way and tell me whether I should play it safe with the easy option, or go goddamn crazy and go with the insane option.**

 **Also yes, Paruko is the Splatoon equivalent of an Australian.**


End file.
